Woes of the Uchiha
by PS100
Summary: Itachi was just a butcher, and Sasuke just a traitor. But when they both begin to brew on their relationship with each other and their own emotions, will Sasuke still be able to do what he swore to all those years ago? Pairings minimal.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I know that the intro here really isn't needed for most of you, but since I had it included in the original version of this fic, I felt it should be included here. It sums up, I think, a lot of the assumptions I've made abou exactly what happened to the Uchiha clan. I haven't seen anything of Naruto past maybe halfway through the Third Exam prelims, so things may be a little off detail wise. Please don't hurt me if they are.

I use the Viz English Translations of jutsu names for the most part, as well as "Black Ops" rather than ANBU, just because that's what I'm used to. (The exception is the Chidori/Lightning Blade)

Characters may be slightly OOC, but I think that the way in which they may be OOC fits nicely with the story.

And, of course, I do not own any of the characters, jutsus, towns, details, etc. included herein. Enjoy!

NARUTO: WOES OF THE UCHIHA

Most stories about the world of the Ninja start off like this... Fifteen years ago, a fox demon called the Kyuubi appeared near the Village Hidden in the Tree Leaves, otherwise known as Konohagakure, or just Konoha. The shinobi, or ninja, who lived there fought long and hard against this demon, who could summon tsunamis, typhoons and earthquakes with just a wave on one of his nine tails. Then, the greatest ninja in the village, the Fourth Hokage, came and sealed the demon into a newborn baby boy.

The Hokage then died.

... and although I did indeed just start this story with that, there is a far more important and disturbing tale to spin from that same village. There lived a clan in Konoha called the Uchiha. The Uchiha clan was made up of some of the village's greatest warriors, all of whom were both honorable and powerful. Many generations beforehand, the Uchiha had founded Konoha's police force, and even up until that fateful day eight years ago, Uchiha Fugaku was the police chief.

The Uchiha's greatest strength was their Kekkei Genkai, the ninja technique that was passed down from generation to generation in their family. This technique, called the Sharingan, or "Copy-Wheel Eye," allows the user to mimic, predict, and defend against enemy Ninjutsu. Through the many levels of Sharingan, the user could more accurately predict the opponent's move and mimic them, and this was seen as the second most powerful eye-Ninjutsu (second only to the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan, or "Evil Eye").

But then, Fugaku's son, Uchiha Itachi, was born. Itachi, from a very young age, showed signs of genius. He, unlike any other Uchiha before or after him, was able to easily grasp Ninjutsu before he could even speak properly. By the time he was four, Itachi managed to pass the adulthood-ritual of the Uchiha: he used the "Blaze of Glory" Ninjutsu for the first time.

Through his days in the Ninja Academy, Itachi kept improving at his insane speeds. He graduated from the Academy at age 7, mastered the first two levels of the Sharingan at 8 (a feat that took his younger brother, Sasuke, until age 12), became a Chunin (Journeyman Ninja) at 10 and became a Black Ops agent at 13. It was only then that it seemed that Itachi's power was affecting him. He grew more aloof from all of his family members (except his cousin and best friend, Uchiha Shisui). Though he still treated his brother Sasuke well, he was beginning to argue more with his mother and father.

And then it happened.

Shisui was found dead beneath a bridge in Konoha, and the Police Force wanted answers. Being that Itachi was closest to Shisui, they naturally questioned him first, and asked if they knew why his cousin had killed himself.

Itachi's response was to smile and murder all of them. By the time the rest of the Uchiha clan found out about Itachi's betrayal, it was too late. He hunted them down and killed them all, including his mother and father. But one remained.

Later that day, Sasuke came home from the Ninja Academy to find his entire world doused in blood. He found his brother standing over his parent's bodies when he arrived. Though still a novice and a ninja genius in his own right (though he was nothing compared to Itachi), when Sasuke confronted Itachi, he was soundly defeated. When asked why he had done this, Itachi replied, "To see what I'm capable of. Shisui gave me a new Sharingan..."

Sasuke, a normally unshakeable boy, broke down at that point, cursing his brother. Though Itachi would have killed Sasuke if he had been a cousin, Itachi spared Sasuke. Though the curses and swears of eventual death at Sasuke's hands, Itachi said, "If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes as me, come before me."

And then he disappeared for eight long years. It is generally agreed that he joined the secret organization Akatsuki, but little else is known. Sasuke, on the other hand, focused only on what he had sworn to do: he shut himself away from all other people, lost interest in everything but his Ninjutsu, and became obsessed with fulfilling his goal, restoring his clan, and avenging the deaths of his parents and, as he saw it, his brother. Eventually, this lead him, too, to betray Konoha, and he left to train with Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin.

Eight years later after the massacre of the Uchiha clan, our story opens...

"... I am highly disappointed in this experiment. That we were unable to remove Shusaku from the Kazekage's body will push our schedule back several months. We will, of course, continue these attempts, but I would like to see more progress in the future."

Two scientists bowed. "Of course, my lord."

"You are dismissed." The two scientists drew away from the dark chair at the head of the room, turned, and left.

The man sitting in the shadows sighed. "Gaara is beginning to resist our restraints. I am afraid that struggling against them will strengthen his chakra, and he will be able to break out. I can only pray that they hurry up a little and get this through."

He motioned to a tall, thin figure standing in the far corner of the room. "Ah, yes, of course, I believe you have a report for me?"

The figure stepped forward. He had long, raven-black hair, and was wearing a long, black, cloak-like jacket. His eyes were slits, and there were frown lines already below them. He wore a dark headband with a metal sheet on the front, and on the sheet was an engraved leaf. Ominously, there was a long slash through the center of the leaf. "Yes, I do have that report."

"Good. What have you learned?"

"That Orochimaru is a blind fool." Another person may have laughed, but this one continued to stare at the man in the shadows without a trace of emotion on his face. "Besides that, Uchiha Sasuke is coming along well. He is trying not to use the curse mark at all costs, but even so, he is quickly catching up to Orochimaru."

"Does old Snake Eyes realize this?" The man looked vaguely interested, but he was obviously more interested in Sasuke.

"Undoubtedly. It is my guess that this is what Orochimaru is hoping for." The figure looked bored at best, if anyone could try to interpret his expression. "He was, after all, after me, and I am by far his superior."

"Of course." the man in the shadows said apologetically. "I assume it is the Sharingan he is after?"

"Probably." The figure shrugged slightly. "In any case, Sasuke has already mastered the Arts of Temporary Paralysis and Snake Summoning, and probably many more of both Orochimaru's and the Uchiha's. Given six months, he will surpass Orochimaru."

The man looked concerned. "Will Orochimaru then take his body?"

There was a faint trace of a smile on the figure's face that the man didn't notice. "If Sasuke doesn't kill him first."

The man smiled sardonically. "Of course. You have the utmost faith in your brother, I see."

Uchiha Itachi snorted. "I would be a fool not to." At that, he turned and left the room.

Miles away in the Land of Sound, Uchiha Sasuke was still training with Orochimaru. Their sparring was nearly ceaseless, but Sasuke's stamina surprised even Orochimaru. Sasuke battled on, mastering even the most difficult jutsus and other techniques in just weeks. Orochimaru could not tell what was driving Sasuke, though his guesses hit rather close to the mark. The two rarely talked, unless Orochimaru was instructing Sasuke on how to perform a specific jutsu, and Orochimaru could not say that he was disappointed.

Several days after Itachi's meeting with the leader of Akatsuki, Sasuke sat around a fire, eating a meager bowl of rice. Orochimaru's givings were not extravagant, but they were enough to keep Sasuke alive. He dug his chopsticks in a little further into his bowl, stewing over his training. _How much longer will it take to surpass him?_ Sasuke thought bitterly. _I've waited eight years. I can't do this much longer..._

Orochimaru came close to the fire, followed closely by three otonin, or sound ninja. "Have you had enough training for today?"

"No." Sasuke continued to play with his rice, not bothering to look up at Orochimaru.

"Then we shall continue after you've finished your dinner. I have a new exercise for you." Orochimaru grabbed a bowl of rice and ate quickly. "Hopefully it will not take you much longer to surpass the Jounin level of power."

"Hopefully." Sasuke wasn't interested. Being stronger than the Jounin elite ninja didn't matter much to him, besides that his former teacher, Hatake Kakashi, was one of the most powerful Jounin.

Orochimaru studied Sasuke intently over his rice. "You are thinking of the results of your training, are you not?"

Sasuke looked up for the first time. Orochimaru was very close to the truth, though Sasuke was not about to let him know just how close. "Sorta. I just wish I could finish and go back to Konoha, so I can finish things."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Will you be joining them again? You're a Missing-nin. There's no going back."

_That's what you say_, Sasuke wanted to say, but he managed to restrain himself. "I know. I just need to finish off a few people there, and then head out on my own."

Orochimaru seemed content with that. "Ah, revenge. It is a sweet, beautiful art. Perhaps, Sasuke, I will be able to impress upon you just how to go about getting revenge. It is much better with age, I believe..."

Sasuke gave an involuntary shudder that Orochimaru didn't notice. You'll never know... _Oh, you'll never, ever know, will you, you goddamn bastard?_ he thought viciously. Fighting to control himself, he muttered, "I s'pose." He looked back down at his rice, which seemed to have reappeared after he had eaten it.

"Now..." Orochimaru set down his bowl and stood, prompting Sasuke to do the same. "I have arranged, as Otokage, to get some otonin to use in this next exercise. These three here kindly... heh... volunteered for the job. Come with me, please." Orochimaru led Sasuke to a large clearing about 200 yards outside of camp. "This is where we'll be conducting this training."

"What exactly are we doing?" Sasuke asked.

"You will be fighting all three of these Jounin otonin." Orochimaru said. Seeing the bored look on Sasuke's face, he added, "As a twist, however, you will be using only Ninjutsu battle techniques. No Genjutsu illusions or Taijutsu martial arts, understand?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever."

Orochimaru stepped back. "Go ahead."

Sasuke and the three otonin launched forward. They quickly surrounded him, but Sasuke was more than ready. Interlocking his fingers and hands into complicated signs used to manipulate his chakra, or his body's mental and physical energies, he focused on one particular Ninjutsu. "Fire Style: Art of the Flaming Palms!" Suddenly, his fists were engulfed in flames.

The otonin were not phased. One had a large metal device on his forearm that Sasuke recognized as a sound amplifier. If he wasn't careful, the otonin could use it to knock him off balance and ruin his hearing, and Sasuke couldn't afford that. The otonin brought back his arm, but Sasuke was much faster than him. He grabbed the amplifier, which melted instantly, burning the otonin badly.

The otonin cried out, giving Sasuke time to put his palm over his face. The otonin's face instantly turned a shiny, blistery red, burning the otonin worse than even falling into a fire would. Sasuke released him and ducked. Three kunai throwing knives soared through the air past were Sasuke's head had just been, and pierced the amplifier otonin's chest.

Sasuke, sensing that taking down two Jounin otonin at once would be difficult, leapt to the left. Four more kunai zipped past. Sasuke focused his chakra into his eyes, summoning that most powerful of Uchiha techniques: the Sharingan Copy-Wheel Eye. His eyes turned red, and three comma-like marks surrounded his pupils. He was suddenly able to tell what the otonin would do before they even thought of it. He saw their hands twitch towards the kunai holsters on their thighs, and he leapt out of the way quickly.

The otonin's kunai flew towards where he had been, but Sasuke had been out of the way for several milliseconds. He focused chakra into his right hand, which was clutching a kunai of his own. Sasuke then, to Orochimaru's amazement, wove several signs one-handed and cried, "Fire Style: Art of the Lava's Whip!" Fire extended from the kunai, and he whipped it around. The fire struck one of the otonin's necks, and his head fell to the ground quickly.

Sasuke felt that he needed some practice with his strongest technique, so he put his kunai back into his holster and wove more signs. Then, he gripped his right hand below the wrist with his left and focused. So much chakra collected in his hand that it was nearly visible. Then, without a word, he charged the remaining otonin. His Sharingan allowed him to predict the otonin's movements. The rest was child's play; Sasuke plunged his fist through the otonin's chest, showering the clearing in blood. His death was quick and unceremonious. Sasuke pulled his arm from the otonin's chest, wiped the blood off on the corpse's robes, and turned to Orochimaru.

"Pathetic. If those were Jounin, I'd hate to see what the Chunin are made of."

Orochimaru smiled evilly. "You would, wouldn't you? Well, they were indeed Jounin, and you performed marvelously. You killed all three in a minute and a half. That's a performance I could be proud of."

Sasuke snorted. "It didn't seem it. It was like time slowed down."

"Battle has a funny way of doing that." Orochimaru said, the corners of his mouth twisting upward, though the effect was anything but pleasing. "Your Chidori, though perfect in form, is still lacking in power. I'll see if we can change that. The sooner it becomes a Raikiri Lightning Blade like Kakashi's, the better your chances of your initiation as my equal going off without a hitch are."

Sasuke said nothing. He knew already what the initiation entailed; he had to kill Konoha's top Jounin: Kakashi, Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, Yuhi Kurenai, and Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke was particularly apprehensive about killing Kakashi and Neji. Kakashi, his former teacher, had always been kind to him, and Sasuke knew that even at his level of skill, Neji would be a challenge. On top of that, he liked them both, and didn't want to have to do them in.

"If that's all you have, I'll go take a bath and get to bed." Sasuke said. "It's been a long day." He left the clearing without waiting for Orochimaru, though he could feel the Sannin's snakelike eyes on him as he went.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Had trouble last chapter with the separations between Itachi's and Sasuke's POV. Fixed that this time around.

Chapter 2

Itachi's dreams were disturbed that night. They were, as usual, about his parents hunting him down and demanding answers about their deaths, but they turned to something different after a short time. There was a shadow, lurking just outside of his vision, that he could not quite see clearly. When he went to investigate, a hideous creature, covered with curse marks and oozing purple chakra, leapt at him and tore out his throat.

Itachi didn't wake up, or show any signs of even having had a dream. His mind wandered again, back to his old nightmare. This time, though, there was a small figure standing behind his parents as they admonished him. He thought he could recognize it, but just as he was about to figure out who it was, he was shaken awake.

Someone said something to him, but his mind was still fuzzy and he was preoccupied with the dream. _Fool_. he snapped at himself. _It's a dream. They mean nothing_. He remembered the cursed creature, giving off all that lamentable purple energy, and shivered.

"Are you all right?" someone said, poking him in the shoulder. Itachi's eyes focused on the figure sitting next to him: Hoshigaki Kisame, a large, shark-like man from the Land of Waves. "You've never acted like this after waking up before."

"I'm fine." Itachi said coldly, seizing his jacket and pulling it on as he sat up. _Idiot. Now Hoshigaki thinks you're out of it. This won't be a pleasant day_. Itachi pulled on his toeless boots, which were unique to ninja, and then scratched his head sleepily. "It was dark by the time we made camp last night. How far are we from the Land of Sound?"

Kisame shrugged. "Maybe two days' journey. It shouldn't take nearly that, though, if we get going early today and tomorrow. And, of course, Orochimaru and Uchiha are probably going to be out training, so it'll take either less or more time to find them and spy on them."

Itachi rubbed his eyes and looked towards where the fire was. He stood, tied on his headband, walked over to the fire, and took the teakettle out of the steel pot it was sitting in. He poured himself a cup of tea, sipped it, and grimaced. "I must say, the Land of River's tea just isn't the same as we had in Konoha."

Kisame's eyes narrowed as he studied his partner carefully. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? I've never heard you talk about Konohagakure before... even if just talking about something as stupid as tea." Kisame sipped from his own cup, and sighed. "Though you are right, River's tea is horrible."

Itachi stretched and took another sip of tea. "I feel... strange. I haven't felt this way in..." He shook his head vigorously. _No. You should never feel this way. You butchered your family, remember? You cannot feel so content, because there is always going to be someone after you, and contentment makes you weak._

Kisame gave a grunting laugh. "You must be sick, Itachi. When we get to Otogakure, we'll have to have one of the medic-nin check you out... before we kill them." He laughed again.

As the day wore on, Itachi felt himself fall back into his usual stoniness. This would probably be a dull mission. Reconnaissance missions were usually long and boring. Itachi's blood churned at the thought of fighting a legendary ninja like Orochimaru, and personally testing how his brother was coming along, but that was out of the question. The leader of Akatsuki had expressly forbidden that.

Night fell again, but this time Itachi did not sleep. As Kisame settled himself down for a good night's rest, Itachi sat against a tree a short distance away. This was standard ninja procedure; as one or more partners slept, one would stay awake and keep watch over his companions. Though he had been at first bothered by this sign of unconditional trust from Kisame (being that Itachi was, after all, a mass murderer), Itachi had gotten used to it after a while.

The night wasn't special in any way. It was cool and clear, and Itachi was comfortable as he dozed slightly. He listened to the animals in the forest go about their nighttime rituals, heard the wind rattle through the trees, and saw the shadows of deer and wild pigs and things of that nature move about just beyond his vision.

His eyes opened wide. "The dream..." Itachi muttered, looking around. He focused some of his chakra into his eyes in an attempt to try and see better, but all it did was awaken his Sharingan. Itachi's Sharingan, unlike Sasuke's, was far more powerful. Technically, it was called the Mangekyo Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Copy-Wheel Eye), and it could see and copy much faster than Sasuke's normal Sharingan.

But if you can't see an enemy, not even a Mangekyo will help. Itachi looked around, expecting to see something, but couldn't locate anything worthy of this intense paranoia. _Moron. Of course, of course it's just that stupid dream freaking you out. I don't know what's wrong, but it's wearing on my nerves... He sat back against the tree, berating himself for being so twitchy today_.

And then he ducked, narrowly avoiding the six or seven kunai that flew through the air and struck the tree behind him.

"Hoshigaki!" he cried, reactivating his Mangekyo. "Ambush!" He drew his katana from its sheath on his back, then performed several extremely complicated signs. "Fire Style: Art of the Everlasting Torch." He pointed his left hand at a tree, and it burst into bright flames that did not spread to other trees. Light suddenly bathed the entire clearing.

Kisame was up, and had his serrated-edge sword, Samehada, drawn. "Where are they, Wheel-eye?"

Itachi shook his head. "I don't know. Even with this light, it's possible that they're hiding in the shadows..." He sighed. "Well, then, this forest will have to be razed. Using the Water Shield now wouldn't be a bad idea."

Kisame nodded, performed a few signs, and said, "Art of the Water Shield." His body was surrounded closely by a watery barrier. "Go ahead."

Itachi had been weaving the signs before Kisame had been done with his shield, and continued on for several seconds. When he was done, a huge amount of chakra was enveloping the thumb, index, and middle fingers of his right hand. Transferring his katana to his left hand, he held his right up to his mouth. "Amaterasu." he murmured, and then blew.

Horrible, jet-black flames shot from the three fingers, incinerating every tree, melting every rock, killing every living thing that got in its path. The fire spread from tree to tree, destroying everything and leaving nothing alive. After a few minutes, Itachi made a grasping motion with his hand, and the fire returned to him and dissipated. There was nothing still standing for several miles, and even the torch-tree had been burned.

Kisame shuddered. "Every time I see that technique, it gives me the chills, and they've got nothing to do with the temperature." He undid his shield and sheathed his sword. "That's absolutely insane... and to think every Uchiha was capable of using that."

Itachi nodded. "Every last one... if they had had the fortitude to kill their own best friends and gain the Mangekyo Sharingan." Itachi sheathed his sword as well. "Let's look for the bodies, just to make sure that they're dead."

Kisame snorted. "Unlikely that they're alive."

Itachi gave him a cold glare. "You are." He walked off. It didn't take long to find the bodies: three charred, unrecognizable corpses lying maybe a dozen yards from the clearing where Itachi and Kisame had been. Next to one was a partially melted piece of steel Itachi recognized as a hitae-ate headband, like the one on his forehead. On it was a musical note. _Mark of an otonin... _Itachi thought.

Itachi smiled grimly. "So... Orochimaru thinks he can assassinate me that easily, eh? We'll see about that..."

---

That day went badly for Sasuke. Orochimaru, pleased with Sasuke's performance against the three Jounin two days beforehand, had made sure that Sasuke get a lot of training. He had brought in at least two dozen of the most powerful Jounin otonin for Sasuke to fight in a row. The result was that although Sasuke was able to defeat most of them with ease (though one who had the power to solidify sound waves gave him a bit of trouble), his chakra was completely worn out by mid-afternoon, and he was nearly unable to move by dinner.

"It will make you stronger in the long run." Orochimaru kept telling him. "Chakra always comes back after depletion more powerful than it was before. You needn't worry."

But Sasuke did worry, because he was unable to eat even a small amount of rice without throwing up. This reminded him of two different occasions: one, when he was in the Land of Waves, training his chakra control by running up trees (he exhausted so much chakra that he couldn't eat, though he forced himself to); and two, shortly after he left to train with Orochimaru, when one of his former teammates named Uzumaki Naruto (who, incidentally, was the boy the Kyuubi had been sealed into) came to try and bring him home, and they fought. The battle was so fierce that though Sasuke beat him in the end after Naruto became distracted, Sasuke was barely able to move, let alone escape.

This was like those two occasions rolled into one. Sasuke lay by a log around the fire with a bowl of rice on his chest, unable to lift his chopsticks off the ground and into the rice. Orochimaru paid him no notice, but he did call off training until Sasuke could move again. "I... can't... believe this..." Sasuke grunted, finally moving the chopsticks after a long struggle.

"Believe it." Orochimaru said. "Your victories today proved that you are definitely capable of eliminating Konoha's top Jounin, and paving the way for both my invasion and your installment as my right-hand man. This will be very beneficial in the long run."

"Speak... for... yourself..." Sasuke muttered, letting go of the chopsticks and letting his hand fall back to the ground.

Orochimaru smiled nastily. "Your resistance to my teachings is most amusing. It would help you, of course, if you'd eat." He grinned even more broadly.

"You try... eating... when you... literally... can't lift... a finger..." Sasuke said, again trying to reach his chopsticks with his hand. Finally realizing that this was fruitless, he let the hand fall back down again. He rolled over, spilling his rice everywhere. "I just... want... to sleep..."

"Then sleep. That, too, will do you good." Before Orochimaru had even finished the second sentence, Sasuke gave a loud snore. Orochimaru snorted in disgust. "He could have done with a bath before going to sleep. He smells like a cow pasture."

"Orochimaru-sama!" An otonin came running towards the fire from the entrance of the village. "Orochimaru-sama, we have word of the assassins you sent to kill Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame!"

"And?" Orochimaru said, turning towards the otonin. "What of their mission?"

"They're..." The otonin look horrified. "They're just cinders, sir. Uchiha burned them to crisps with his Amaterasu."

Orochimaru, to the otonin's surprise, merely smiled. "Ah, as I suspected. Of course, if Kisame had been the one awake, they'd have stood a better chance..."

The otonin stared at him. "S-so what do you want me to do...?"

Orochimaru smiled more deeply. "Bring me Yakushi Kabuto. He'll see to it that at least Kisame is taken care of... And, with a little luck, one of his seals may be able to do away with Uchiha, as well." He stalked off with the otonin.

From where he lay on the ground, Sasuke gave a sharp gasp. _They're going to interfere with my revenge... _he thought, panicked, _I've gotta either kill Kabuto, Itachi, or Orochimaru. But how can I... I'm too weak..._

_You're only too weak because you refuse to push onward, despite your exhausted chakra_. a small voice in his head said sharply.

_But I can't move_. Sasuke thought reasonably. _How can I beat even Kabuto if I can't move or use jutsus?_

_First of all, _the voice said, as if speaking to a child having a tantrum, _I find it extremely unlikely that even Kabuto can beat Itachi. Sure, he's good, but he doesn't have that Mangekyo Sharingan, or the Amaterasu, or the Tsukiyomi. And secondly, you're only unable to move because you don't think you can move. Naruto was able to move when he didn't have much chakra left. Are you going to let that little dunce outdo you?_

Sasuke snorted. The little voice had a point about Kabuto, after all, but he still didn't think he could move. _Try it. _the little voice urged him. _Use every ounce of strength you have left. Give it your all. _Sasuke pushed as hard as he could, and found he could get on to his knees._ Now, push yourself onto your feet. It only gets easier from there._

And so it did. Sasuke found he was able to walk much more easily than he had been able to eat. He took off, running for the exit of the village. The guards weren't there, oddly, and Sasuke was able to just walk out. He kept going, trudging through the forest, for what seemed like hours, hoping he was walking fast enough to keep Kabuto behind him.

Then, suddenly, the curse mark on his right shoulder gave a throb. Orochimaru had given it to him several years ago, during the second part of the Chunin exams. Since then, it had either been sealed away or under control, and hadn't hurt him in a very long time. Sasuke found it ominous that it should hurt at a time like this; nonetheless, he had to keep going.

After what seemed like forever, Sasuke came to a horrifying sight: the patch of burned-away forest that Itachi had created with the Amaterasu. Sasuke gave a shudder. "No... way." He had known that his brother was powerful, but this ? This was beyond the realm of imagination. He had never seen anything that was anywhere near as powerful as this Ninjutsu, except perhaps Naruto's Double-Handed Rasengan.

Then, Sasuke saw something move in the corner of his eye. He spun around, facing the perimeter of the burned land, but saw nothing. He heard a strange murmuring coming from the trees. Cautiously, Sasuke approached them. Focusing what little chakra he had accumulated since two that afternoon, he activated his Sharingan. He could see nothing, but heard, quite clearly, "Well. I said 'when you have the same eyes as me,' but apparently that means nothing to him. I'll give him another chance, I suppose..."

At that, a phantom leapt from the trees. A long, cape-like jacket sprawled out behind the figure as it fell, with a sword in hand. Sasuke felt a blow to the back of his head, and as everything went blank, he found himself thinking...

_That's three times now, Itachi. Why haven't you killed me yet? Why? Is there something about me that you need, or want...? Why haven't you killed me, like everyone else...?_


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Yay! New chapter. This one is only from Itachi's POV, as Chapter 6 will just be Sasuke's (I have this already written, for those who were wondering). This one is far more action-packed than its predecessors, albeit a tad shorter. I find fighting sequences are much harder to write and describe effectively than normal text, so please forgive me if you get confused. Please read and review. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Itachi and Kisame were able to quickly go from their camp to Otogakure, the Village Hidden in Sound. Itachi didn't feel the least remorse about knocking Sasuke out, though he had the distinct impression that he had made things worse for himself. He knew that, eventually, Sasuke would come back to haunt him. Though Sasuke was not the completely natural ninja that Itachi was, he had determination and hatred on his side- two powerful weapons when you're seeking revenge.

Itachi shook off the feelings of paranoia that seemed to be following him everywhere these days, and kept his mind on his mission. He and Kisame were to find out what, precisely, Orochimaru had planned _after_ he took Sasuke's body, so that if Sasuke failed to kill him when he surpassed him, Akatsuki would be prepared for the worst.

Itachi nestled himself in a tree bough outside the main building in Otogakure, where Orochimaru was likely to be. Itachi, incidentally, had on the course of his travels acquired a useful technique through his Sharingan. This technique, called the Art of Invisibility, allowed the user to move completely unnoticed even right past someone's eyes. Though not true invisibility, Itachi had found occasion where is came in handy.

Itachi rubbed his chin, wondering whether he should abandon Kisame to get closer to Orochimaru. As it had been when they were sleeping, it was typically a bad idea to leave yourself unprotected; amongst ninja, on your own was unprotected. However, this was far too good to pass up... Itachi looked at Kisame, who was (barely) in a tree a few yards away, and pantomimed going down and investigating. Kisame nodded and waved his hand dismissively.

Itachi focused, and performed a few signs. Kisame, whose eyes has been on him, suddenly slid away, like he couldn't look at him. Itachi nodded, and slid down from the bough.

An otonin rounded the corner and didn't even look up as he passed Itachi and went into the building. Itachi followed him, nearly silently, with his katana drawn just in case. He slid past the portiere and into the first room. The building was larger than it appeared from the outside, with three doors in the first room alone. The otonin, who was scribbling madly on a clipboard, went into the door that was directly opposite the entrance. Itachi continued to follow him.

The second room was even larger, full of different ninja weapons: katana, shuriken, kunai, and even a few small bows and arrows. Itachi felt that this would be a good chance to stock up, so he grabbed a few kunai and small, throwing-star-type shuriken. There was only one door in this room, so he didn't need to worry about losing the otonin. He heard the door ahead of him close, and he hurriedly stuffed the throwing stars into his holster and the kunai into his pack, and went after him.

Itachi found himself in a hallway that split off into three directions. He could heard footsteps coming from one of them, but being that hearing wasn't his best sense, he couldn't tell which one. He decided that it was best to use a technique he had borrowed from Hatake Kakashi, his brother's teacher- the ninken. He took a scroll from his pack, made a shallow cut in his skin with his katana, and smeared the blood along the length of the scroll. Rolling it back up, he put his hands together, balanced the scroll along his thumb joints, and murmured, "Art of Summoning!"

Immediately, a dog appeared in front of him. "Find Orochimaru." Itachi whispered, and the dog gave a little nod and set off down the left hallway. Itachi followed, careful to make sure that no one would see the dog. He was quite impressed by the dog's efficiency. Smell, apparently, was far more effective for finding opponents than sight or hearing were.

They came to a door, which Itachi opened. Again, there was a long hallway that intersected with another about mid-way along. The dog turned down the right path of the intersection, which, to Itachi's surprise, led to a double-door. The dog jerked it's head at the door, which Itachi took to mean "He's in there." "Good dog." Itachi murmured, bending down to scratch the dog's ears, but he took off before Itachi could reach him. Shrugging, Itachi leaned against the door to try and hear.

"... must be eliminated." a raspy voice, which Itachi recognized as Orochimaru's, said. "He will interfere with my taking of Sasuke's body if we do not kill him now. I have a lot of faith in your ability to defeat him."

"You flatter me." said a younger voice that Itachi vaguely recognized but could not guess who used it. "I'm not sure I can kill Uchiha Itachi- as you're well aware, Orochimaru-sama, his strength surpasses your own- but I'll try. There have been rumors going around that he's been getting soft. He spared Kakashi and Gai and the rest of the Konoha Jounin when they tried to stop him from coming to Konoha, shortly before Sasuke finally joined you. People think this means he has an aversion to killing..."

Orochimaru gave a harsh laugh. "I assure you, he does not. People who have an aversion to killing don't barbeque ninja with their Ninjutsu." He sighed. "Soft or not, I believe that you can take care of him. As you know, he's Akatsuki's best agent, and it would hurt them to lose him. We _might _even be able to break into Akatsuki HQ and re-kidnap Gaara, the Kazekage, so we can... heh... give you a new body, as well."

Very politely, the younger voice said, "No, thank you, Orochimaru-sama. I'm quite happy with my own body." There was a pause, and then the voice said, "Do we know where Uchiha and Hoshigaki are?"

A third voice, undoubtedly that of an underling otonin, said, "Yes, Kabuto-san... Er, well, we know where Kisame is. He's sitting in a tree outside this very building."

Itachi's heart skipped several beats. He turned around and dashed down the hall, back to the intersection. If they found Kisame, their cover was blown, and if their cover was blown, they were _screwed_. Gathering his wits again, he performed several complicated signs, and just as he heard otonin burst from doors around him, he cried, "Art of Teleportation!"

Next thing he knew, he was back outside. "Hoshigaki!" he roared, looking around to make sure no otonin were running at him. "They know we're here!"

He heard a raspy laugh. "Funny thing, isn't it?" He spun around to see Kisame standing behind him. "I knew that as soon as you took off..." He laughed again.

"What... what's your problem?" Itachi asked, suspicious. He held his sword close to him and tensed his muscles, suspecting an ambush. "What's going on, Hoshigaki?"

"I think the more accurate question," said a voice that was now horribly familiar to Itachi, "is what went on."

Again, Itachi spun around. Behind him stood a tall, silver-haired youth, maybe in his early twenties, with a Sound hitae-ate headband and glasses. "Uchiha Itachi." the boy said. "It is an honor to finally be in your presence. I've heard a lot of great stories about you... the man who butchered the Uchiha clan, destroyed countless numbers of the most powerful Missing-nin, joined Akatsuki and proved a match to Hoshigaki Kisame." The boy smiled. "Forgive me, but I do believe that there is more than one person stronger that Kisame..."

Itachi activated his Sharingan, and turned to say something to Kisame. However, when he saw him, he saw a concentration of chakra around his joins and, oddly, his heart. Immediately, Itachi recognized what was going on. "He's dead!" he yelled, charging the reanimated corpse. "But how- I left the room before you-" He swung his katana, which Kisame ducked, and then brought it down on Kisame's shoulder. Kisame's left arm was separated from his body, and the corpse stumbled. Itachi turned back to the boy.

"Who ever said I was in the room?" the boy said, smirking.

Itachi snorted. "So. You used some sort of otonin art to throw your voice and make me think you were in the room with Orochimaru while you were out here, killing Hoshigaki. Clever." Itachi pointed his katana at the boy. "I'm going to show you a little something I picked up from Hatake Kakashi... but before I kill you, why don't you tell me your name?"

The boy's eyes narrowed. "Yakushi Kabuto. I am Orochimaru's right-hand man." He smirked again. "You really think you can kill me so easily? There's more to me than necromancy, you know... Though, I think, that should be more than enough to test you for now." He held out his arms, flicked his right wrist, and then started ceaselessly forming signs.

Itachi heard a roar from behind him, and dodged to the left just fast enough to miss being cut to ribbons by Kisame's sword. Blood was pouring everywhere from his missing left arm, making the ground slick. Using his Sharingan to predict Kisame's moves, Itachi jumped over a slash that was aimed for his ankles, and cut downward with his katana. He saw that Kisame would block, so he pulled his katana back, and got ready to stab with it- but as his feet hit the ground, he slipped in the blood, and keeled over to his left.

Kabuto wasn't stupid, and apparently knew the full range of Kisame's techniques. Kisame leapt forward, clumsily formed several signs, and thrust his hand at Itachi. Water came from nowhere, surrounded Itachi and part of Kisame's arm, and stayed there. Kabuto laughed. "Apparently, you're not all you're cracked up to be. You damned yourself by cutting off Hoshigaki's arm. Oh well." He walked over to Kisame and looked down at Itachi. "Water Prison Technique. Orochimaru-sama will be pleased to be able to finish you on his own."

"It won't reach that stage." Itachi pounded the sides of the watery orb with his katana.

"Oh, it will, if that's how you're going to try and break out." Kabuto worked a few more signs, and Kisame started moving towards the building. "This went better than I thought it would. And to think I was worried about beating you."

Itachi snorted. Kabuto was seriously underestimating him; he wasn't Konoha's youngest Black Ops member ever for nothing. His mind worked quickly, as he analyzed the workings of the Water Prison. _His arm is still sticking through the edge of the prison. If... if it were to be pulled out... _Itachi, hesitating a little, swung his katana again. The blade struck Kisame's arm about midway down the forearm, separating the hand and wrist from the rest of the arm. Kisame jerked back, and the prison fell. Before Kabuto could make sense of what had happened, Itachi held his katana between Kisame's feet and slashed upwards, cutting his former partner in half and bathing both Itachi and Kabuto in blood.

"I told you." Itachi said, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "It wouldn't get to that stage." He stood, held his katana at arm length, again pointing at Kabuto. "You're next."

"Apparently, the rumors are wrong." Kabuto said, reaching into his waist-pack for a kunai. "You are anything but soft- unless, of course, you are only forgiving to people from Konoha."

"I assure you," Itachi said, "I am not soft to anyone."

This sentence caused a pang of guilt in his stomach. His memory raced back to that fateful day... Sasuke's words came back to him. _"What did they ever do to you! They cared for you, raised you, and tried to help you every day of your life, and this is how you repay them!" _Sasuke was the one member of his clan he had spared, but Itachi wasn't sure if this was because he was soft, or because there was a subconscious reason for having let his little brother live that he just hadn't figured out yet.

Itachi shook his head, and began to focus his chakra into two places: the first being his eyes, to strengthen his Mangekyo, and the second being the blade of his katana. Staring coldly at Kabuto, who was waiting for him for whatever reason, he performed several one handed signs. "I learned this technique when I fought Hatake Kakashi several years ago. Due both to my skill and the amount of time I've had to train, I've been able to raise it to the 'Raikiri' level. This, my friend, is the legendary Chidori."

Then, without warning, a high-pitched buzzing started to sound and didn't let up. Kabuto looked, without surprise, at Itachi's katana, which was faintly glowing with his chakra. "Impressive." Kabuto remarked, as if he was watching a particularly good ball game. "I don't think even Kakashi can charge a weapon with the Chidori. This would, I'd assume, increase the effectiveness of the move."

"No one has lived long enough to tell me." Itachi replied, his eyes flashing. "And if this fails, I have an entire salvo of equally deadly moves at my disposal. Now..." Itachi said, bringing the katana back into a thrust position. "Time to die."

Itachi charged Kabuto, taking time to note that Kabuto would duck and form the signs for the Art of Substitution. Itachi smiled slightly. He had long noted that some of the simplest ninja arts were the most effective, but no mere Art of Substitution would beat the Mangekyo/Chidori combo. He aimed the Chidori downwards, at the spot where Kabuto would dodge.

Then, without warning, something struck the back of Itachi's head and sent him flying forward. His Chidori pierced Kabuto's stomach, pouring blood over the already slick ground. Itachi rolled head-over-teacups, pulled his katana from Kabuto's stomach, and landed on his back, staring up at the sky. Dazed, he muttered, "What was that?" He sat up and looked behind him to see that not only had Kabuto's body disappeared, but another Kabuto was standing, unscathed, behind where he had been before.

Kabuto smiled. "Not bad. Good thing you spaced out before. It gave me time to create a Shadow Doppelganger and replace it with me. If memory serves, during our own battle Kakashi told me that the Sharingan can't tell the different between Shadow Doppelgangers and the real thing. So, of course, if you didn't notice that I created it, there'd be no way to tell that I was fooling you."

Itachi wiped a bit of blood on the back of his hand. "Damn you." He stood up, feeling slightly winded from the chakra his Chidori had blown. He had more than enough to keep going, but no one could lose that much and not notice. He cracked his neck as a matter of reflex, spit a little more blood on the ground, and sheathed his katana. "Well, then, I won't be able to play games with you. I assume you know about my Amaterasu?"

Kabuto laughed. "How could I not? You destroyed not only three shinobi hunters with it, but also about two square miles of forest." He tapped his temple with his index finger. "And, it goes without saying that I've developed a countermeasure to it. I'd like to see how it holds up."

Itachi shook his head. "No, I won't use it on you. You're not good enough for it." He held up two fingers. "There are two other jutsus that my Mangekyo Sharingan has bestowed upon me. One," he lowered his middle finger, "is called the Susanoo. I won't bother describing its effects, since you won't live to see it. The other," he pointed at Kabuto, "is an extremely powerful technique called the Tsukiyomi. You'll know what it does once I use it."

Itachi stared right at Kabuto, and entered into a long and complex string of signs. Kabuto sneered. "What makes you think this will work any better than the Chidori? Just because your Mangekyo Sharingan gave it to you-" Itachi stopped weaving the signs and held an open hand out towards Kabuto- "doesn't mean that- ugh... y-YAAAAAAAH!" Kabuto let out a blood-curdling scream as Itachi closed his fist.

Kabuto collapsed, foaming at the mouth and twitching uncontrollably. Itachi staggered, as having a massive amount of your chakra depleted in less than a second weakens one immensely. Clutching a hand to his forehead, Itachi slowly walked towards where Kabuto lay.

He was suffering the effects of the strongest Genjutsu illusion imaginable; he had been placed in an imaginary world created completely by Itachi's chakra, and if Itachi had done it right (judging by the immense amount of chakra he had lost, he had), he had been put through unspeakable torture for the upwards of what seemed to be a month. Though it was all in his mind, the human mind is a fragile thing, and Itachi always made sure he broke it quite thoroughly.

Itachi reached for his katana, which slid slightly in his sweaty palm. He paused for a second as he drew it, looking down at Kabuto as he flipped the sword around in his hand. Feeling disgusted at the fact that Kabuto had forced him to resort to the Tsukiyomi, he drove the blade of his sword through Kabuto's face, killing him instantly.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Itachi snarled, and he turned slowly and left Otogakure. He was in no condition to fight Orochimaru which he knew this would come down to. But, at least, he had accomplished his mission: he knew now that Orochimaru wanted to steal away Gaara, the boy that had a demon inside him that Akatsuki was performing experiments on. He shook his head again, and without a second glance, walked through Otogakure's front gates.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: New chapter... obviously. This one begins to set up the major events of the story, so it's extremely important. Please, read and review. Enjoy.

Chapter 4

Sasuke groaned and rubbed the back of his head. After eight years, Itachi _still_ hit as hard as he had before he had lost his mind and betrayed his family. Sasuke could still remember a day, at least ten years beforehand... He had snuck into Itachi's room to get a look at some of his ninja equipment, only to be caught by his brother... Feeling the back of his head, Sasuke thought he could almost feel the lump where Itachi had beaned him with the hilt of his katana after finding him there.

Sasuke sat up. It was dark by now, and the first stars were beginning to show themselves. He felt, despite his lingering dizziness, stronger than he had when he left Otogakure. He supposed that not moving for several hours had given at least some of his chakra the chance to regenerate. Grateful, he stood and checked all his limbs. Yes, he was definitely in one piece... He should get back to Otogakure, lest Orochimaru grow annoyed.

And yet... As he walked, Sasuke found himself stewing over his brief meeting with Itachi. What was he doing here? Could he have been here to see Sasuke...? Sasuke shook his head furiously. _No, of course not. He killed his entire family except for me. He wouldn't be concerned with his brother's welfare._

Or could he...? Itachi had let him live, after all. This was three times now, three meetings which, for all intents and purposes, should have ended in Sasuke's death. But Itachi seemingly stubbornly refused to kill his own brother, despite the fact that he had killed not only his best friend, but his parents as well.

Sasuke felt intensely stupid that he was thinking these things. Why should he care what that bastard butcher did? All that mattered was revenge... Sasuke _had_ to kill him, no matter what. These meetings would eventually turn to a life-or-death battle, where one of the brothers would die, no if's, and's, or but's. Sasuke, full of confidence, knew that someday he would be stronger than Itachi, Mangekyo Sharingan or not.

Sasuke's thoughts strayed to his own Sharingan. Itachi wanted him to kill his best friend so he, too, could have a Mangekyo and be a match for Itachi. But at the same time... When Sasuke had fought the only person he could ever possibly call a best friend, Uzumaki Naruto, he had found himself unable to kill him. Sasuke felt determined that he would beat Itachi without becoming him. That mattered nearly as much as the revenge itself.

But that came back to why Sasuke was still alive. He _should not_ be there to contemplate revenge. Sasuke knew that he should be dead three times over. He knew that he should have died that day, he knew that if he hadn't been at school during the slaughter, he probably would have. Had Itachi intentionally left him alive, so that there would be the possibility of someone paying him his comeuppance, or had his bloodlust merely died away by the time Sasuke had arrived home...?

Sasuke's head snapped around. He had felt a twinge of familiar chakra, chakra that should have been much larger than it was. Activating his Sharingan, Sasuke lit a branch on fire with a simple fire jutsu and held it up. There it was, a shadow in the trees... Swiftly, he reached down to his shuriken hostler and whipped three throwing stars at the shadow.

It jumped, landing in plain view.

Sasuke gasped. "Itachi!"

It was indeed his older brother. He was bloody, ragged, and, most surprisingly, _staggering_. He was hurt, or at the very least, depleted of chakra. Itachi pulled his jacket up over his face. "Go. Now. I am being pursued. I do not want to have to fight you, too, when I am this weak. It would be an embarrassment to the Uchiha name if I were to beat you, weak as I am."

Sasuke's old hatred flared up, as natural as his raven-wing hair was. "Shut up. I'll kill you now, and the clan will be avenged." He pulled out a kunai and charged his brother.

"Don't make me make a fool of you." Itachi growled, easily dodging the attack. "My Sharingan is faster and more accurate than you own. So although you can see my moves, I can see your counter faster than you can see my dodge." There was a rustling and confused yelling from the darkened path back towards Otogakure.

"Shut up!" Sasuke roared, forming the signs for the Chidori.

Itachi snorted. "You must be joking. You're going to kill yourself... you don't have enough chakra to-" He fell silent as Sasuke charged him again, his hand faintly glowing from the chakra encompassing it. The high-pitched screeching seemed to cut to the bone.

"Up there!" someone called, from further down the path.

Sasuke was inches from Itachi, who apparently was too weak to dodge again. "Go to hell!" the boy cried, his voice full of the anger and sadness and hatred and loneliness only eight years of isolation could create. "DIE!"

"Unfortunately, this is not my day to die." Itachi whispered. Suddenly full of lightning-fast speed, his hands flew as he formed the signs for the Art of Teleportation. Sasuke, mere millimeters from him, was powerless to stop him. "Art of Teleportation!" Itachi yelled, the chakra from his brother's Chidori so close to his chest it was burning him. Then, without another second's hesitation, he closed both fists and disappeared.

The momentum from Sasuke's attack carried him off the path and into the trees. He let out a loud, scream curse, and cut through a tree with the Chidori.

The tree fell and crushed an otonin who was dashing up the path towards him. His companions stopped and began shouting. "Sasuke-kun! What happened?" "You foolish boy! You killed him!" "Where is Uchiha? Have you let him escape, you insolent brat?" "You're lucky you're Orochimaru-sama's second- er, first favorite, or I'd kill you myself!"

Sasuke stepped out of the bushes, shaking with both anger and a lack of chakra. "What do you mean, first favorite?" he asked the Jounin that was angrily trying to drag his dead companion out from under the tree. "What happened to Kabuto?"

"Didn't you hear, Sasuke-kun?" the Chunin that had addressed him first said. "Itachi killed him."

Sasuke felt numb. Kabuto, though one of Orochimaru's spies and his strongest subordinate (after Sasuke, of course), had always been kind to Sasuke, even since before Sasuke was aware he worked for Orochimaru. "H-he's dead? How... how'd Itachi manage to do what Kakashi couldn't?"

"We don't know, idiot." the Jounin snapped. He had given up on trying to free his companion's corpse. "He was found with this huge hole in his head, blood and brains oozing everywhere. Of course, if _you_ had been there, we just _might_ have been able to stop Uchiha before he escaped Otogakure."

He laid the slightest stress on "you" and "might," as if blaming Sasuke for what had happened. Sasuke, angered both by Itachi's stinging words and the Jounin's insolence, had had enough. In an instant, he was standing right in front of the Jounin, his kunai at the ninja's throat.

"Say that again." Sasuke snarled. "Tell me it was my fault again, please. I need to take my anger out on something."

"Fine." the Jounin spat. "It's all your- urrrgk..." Blood sprayed from his throat, which Sasuke had slit before he could even finish the insult.

As the corpse fell, Sasuke turned to the other two otonin. "Anyone else want to blame me for this?" They shook their heads vigorously. "Good. Let's go back to Otogakure. It's been a long, long day..."

And, angered and hopped-up as he was, Sasuke slept well that night. He had refused to meet with Orochimaru when he returned, saying that he was exhausted and that it could wait till the morning. Without so much as taking off his hitae-ate, he had slumped onto his futon and fallen asleep immediately.

Sasuke woke around noon the next day, feeling calmer and stronger than he had the day before. He didn't feel bad about killing the Jounin, because he attributed his out-of-control anger to his lack of chakra. He didn't feel too worried, either, about anything Orochimaru might do to scold him, as the Sannin typically encouraged such behavior. And, Sasuke told himself, the Jounin had it coming. No one insults an Uchiha like that and gets away with it.

Sasuke ate his breakfast in silence, pouring milk over his rice as had become his custom. This made it impossible to eat with chopsticks, but he had a spoon or two lying around, so it didn't matter. It suddenly occurred to him that if Orochimaru would be annoyed about anything, it would be the lost half-day of training. The squeal that heralded the Chidori must have been heard by the group of otonin that had pursued Itachi, and the ability to use the Chidori usually signified a large amount of chakra.

Taking his time just for the simple pleasure of annoying the life out of Orochimaru, Sasuke headed off towards the hot springs for a bath. He had noted as he ate (much to his chagrin) that he smelled very similar to an elephant's backside. The hot water felt refreshing, and the steam rejuvenated what chakra that had still not returned to him.

Twenty minutes later, he walked into Orochimaru's main meeting room, his jet-black hair still wet and hanging down around his neck. Orochimaru, who had been speaking with his head of intelligence, looked at him, gave him a piercing look, and turned back to the intelligence man to finish the conversation. Five minutes after that, the shinobi left the room and Orochimaru gave Sasuke his full attention. "It took you long enough to come see me."

Sasuke shrugged indifferently. "I was exhausted from exertion and lack of chakra, so I slept till noon, ate, and took a bath." He folded his hands and hid his mouth behind them, his favorite sitting position. "I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have wanted me in here half-starved and smelling horrible."

Orochimaru smiled faintly. "I suppose not. But to have used the Chidori while... heh... 'exhausted, lacking chakra, and half-starved,' to borrow your words, is a feat." His snakelike eyes flashed, a sign of anger. "Where were you yesterday when Uchiha and Hoshigaki showed up?"

Making a small sound of interest in his throat, Sasuke said, "So, Hoshigaki came, too? I didn't know that." He sat up, brushed his bangs out of his eyes, and scowled. "To be honest, I went to kill my brother before Kabuto could."

Orochimaru snorted in annoyance. "And we can all see how perfectly that worked out." he replied sarcastically. "Kabuto was killed, Hoshigaki's body was destroyed, and Uchiha got away. You performed brilliantly."

"Huh?" Sasuke was confused... "Body? Hoshigaki was killed?"

"Kabuto did him in, and turned him into a corpse puppet so Uchiha couldn't just slip into the shadows again." Orochimaru looked more annoyed that Sasuke had ever seen him. "He would have been a magnificent addition, too, if we could have preserved him. He would have been the perfect multiple-use puppet, because as you know, we rarely use a puppet twice."

Sasuke nodded, falling back into his indifference. "They lose their effectiveness, unless they're as powerful as Hoshigaki was. But how... how could Kabuto have lost? Even to... my brother, who's as powerful as he is? Kabuto should have been able to escape without too many major injuries..."

Orochimaru shook his head sadly. "There wasn't a mark on Kabuto besides the sword-wound in his head. Itachi killed, or at least immobilized, him with one move."

Sasuke chuckled. "Must have been something very, very powerful. Kabuto could have defended himself-"

"The problem is, he didn't even try to defend himself." Orochimaru snapped. "I told you, there wasn't a mark on him. Whatever Uchiha did to him was vastly underestimated, or so very fast that Kabuto never stood a chance."

Sasuke shrugged. "My brother isn't much of one for speed. It was probably something that looked weak..." A light went off in Sasuke's head. _The Tsukiyomi..._ He opened his mouth to tell Orochimaru what had beaten Kabuto, but shut it almost instantly. To share the move that could someday kill Orochimaru himself would be a bad idea. The only reason Sasuke knew about it was because Itachi had used it on Kakashi and left him bedridden for a week and a half. Sasuke put his poker face back on in an attempt to keep Orochimaru from knowing.

"Enough with the small talk." Orochimaru said. "I have... two assignments for you, one to preferably be done before the other, though the order doesn't much matter." Sasuke looked at him intently. "Good, I have your attention... What I want you to do is go to Konohagakure and complete your initiation."

"What!" Sasuke exclaimed, taken aback. "Already? I just started training against Jounin, you said that it'd be longer-"

Orochimaru cut him off with a wave of the hand, studying him with the utmost suspicion. "Don't you want to do it? Or are you still too soft to kill your old friends...?"

Sasuke nearly lost it, but managed to keep up the facade. "I'm-I'm ready. I'll... do it."

Orochimaru smiled, satisfied. "Good. And the other... I know you'll be drooling over this one... You are to kill Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke fell silent. He stared at Orochimaru in disbelief for several seconds before he stammered, "Wh-what? Y-you never mentioned f-fighting him, h-he might b-b-be too tough for me, y'know, th-the K-kyuubi..."

Orochimaru's upper lip curled. "He is training under Jiraiya, my former teammate and fellow Legendary Sannin. He will most definitely be your equal if he is allowed to continue his training for much longer. He will assuredly interfere with your training by leading a team of Honin- fire ninja, you know- here to take you back to Konoha. _He must be killed_."

Sasuke felt shaky. He knew that, eventually, this day would come, when Naruto grew too powerful for Orochimaru to be comfortable about. He also knew that, by completing this mission, he would gain the Mangekyo Sharingan and his best chance at slaying his brother and avenging his clan. But at the same time... As much as he hated to admit it, the loudmouthed, easily-annoyed, "maverick ninja" (as Kakashi once called him) was his friend. Killing him would not only cause Sasuke great pain, but also would take far more than simply beating him to an unconscious pulp.

"Will you do it or not?" Orochimaru demanded.

Sasuke looked down at his hand, which was resting, trembling, on the table. A shiver went down his spine. To disobey and betray Orochimaru now was to give up both his ability to kill Itachi- and his life. But was his life worth that of Naruto, Kakashi, and Neji...?

"F-fine... I'll do it... I'll kill Naruto."

Orochimaru smiled horribly, his snakelike features brightening evilly.

It was nearly midnight by the time Itachi managed to stumble into Akatsuki headquarters. He had been using the Art of Teleportation regularly, as his chakra would allow, so that he could reach is much faster than by foot. Somehow, he felt weaker than he had ever felt before. Kabuto wasn't such a difficult enemy, and he had used the Tsukiyomi before... So why did he feel this way.

Itachi staggered into the Akatsuki main chamber, where the leader sat. "S-sir... Mission... accomplished..." Finally satisfied, Itachi collapsed.

He woke up what must have been at least a day later, staring up at the ceiling, the sound of many large machines buzzing around him. Itachi's head wasn't pounding, he could move his arms and legs without pain, and he could breathe regularly. Apparently, a sufficient amount of chakra had returned to him so that he wasn't the train wreck he had been before.

A medic-nin nearby noticed that his eyes had opened. She didn't get too close to him, but murmured, "Ah, Uchiha-san, you've woken up. Okashira-sama will be pleased. How do you feel."

"Weaker than normal," Itachi reported coldly, "but healthy. My chakra will take a little more time to return, but I'm not as dangerously lacking in it as I was before." He flexed his left biceps, to absolutely make sure he was ok.

"Good, good." the medic-nin replied, though not sounding too enthusiastic. "I'll get to fixed up, and you can leave." Gingerly, he walked close to him, removed his IV, and made him sit up. She wrapped bandages around his chest ("You had some bad wounds there, I don't know where you got them, but they had to be bandaged," the medic-nin told him when he couldn't figure out why she did this), handed him his battered jacket and hitae-ate, and allowed him to leave.

Itachi stopped at the shoe shelves and gathered his boots. He knew that being barefoot in a hospital was normal, but he didn't feel right without them. He didn't feel... like a warrior. _You're being stupid._ he told himself, but nonetheless, he felt better with the soles of his boots beneath his feet. Then, he made his way back to the main chamber, where the Akatsuki leader was waiting for him.

"Ah, Itachi, it's good to see that you're feeling better." he said, waving his hands to have the lower-ranked Akatsuki agents that were in the room leave. "I must say, I have never seen you in such a state... I hope you're confident you won't end up that way again next time?"

Itachi's lip curled, but he restrained himself from being sarcastic. This was, of course, the man that had probably given the order to have him sent to the hospital to recover; Itachi wasn't about to be ungrateful. "It won't happen again, Okashira." he growled, barely able to contain the malice.

"See that it doesn't." the leader said, sitting back in his chair. "Now... I believe you said your mission had been accomplished when you stormed in here? Please, report. What did you learn, and where is Hoshigaki Kisame?"

Itachi hesitated for a second, but quickly recovered. "Hoshigaki is dead. He was killed by one of Orochimaru's lieutenants while I went in to gather the required intelligence. He... he was standing guard."

"I see." the leader said, sounding disappointed. "He was a fine agent... It is a disappointment to lose someone such as him. What did you learn?"

"Orochimaru does, as we guessed, have plans for after he takes Uchiha Sasuke's body." Itachi said, sounding bored now that he had passed the part about Kisame's death, which he felt somewhat guilty about. "He wants to use Uchiha's body to break into this very fortress, and steal away Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in Sand. He had suggested giving his body to the very lieutenant who killed Hoshigaki, but..."

"But?"

"I killed that lieutenant." Itachi said, with a grim sense of pride. "I used my Tsukiyomi Genjutsu, and while he was immobilized, I killed him with my katana."

"Very good." the leader said, sounding impressed. "I believe the lieutenant you spoke of- a boy by the name of Yakushi Kabuto, I believe?- was one of Orochimaru's most powerful subordinates."

"How did you know his name?" Itachi asked, agitated.

The leader laughed. "You were not the only Akatsuki agent ever to go to Otogakure. I had one in town the day you arrived, and he reported Yakushi's death to me as soon as he heard."

"But why couldn't you have had him find out what Orochimaru wanted to do?" Itachi asked, extremely irritated now.

"Because he would have been completely unable to defend himself against the otonin had he been found out." the leader said logically. "You are my most powerful agent, and for high-risk missions, you will always be the first choice."

Itachi sighed. "I barely come back from this one. I'm not sure what was wrong, but something... was draining my chakra. I didn't realize that a fight with Kabuto and the corpse puppet Hoshigaki and a short skirmish with my brother would weaken me so." He held up his hand and studied it, as if looking for a cause for his weakness.

"I understand that that occasionally happens to the best ninjas." the leader said dismissively. "There is little reason to worry." He paused. "I want you out ASAP and working on your next assignment, if you feel up to it."

Itachi grimaced; he had been hoping for a little more rest time. As he often reminded himself, even the bad guys need a rest after a big fight. "What assignment?"

"There is a scientist in the Land of Clouds that... specializes in demons." the leader said, obviously trying not to give too much away. "I want you to escort the Kazekage there, so that the scientist can study the effects of Shusaku's chakra on the boy's body." Noticing the annoyed look on Itachi's already lined face, he said, "As you well know, you are the only Akatsuki agent that can overpower the Kazekage. Obviously, you are the only choice for this mission."

"Who will I be working with?" Itachi asked, his feeling of annoyance growing. He was referencing the fact that Akatsuki agents never worked alone; they were always in pairs, as he and Kisame were.

"There will be no airing this time." the leader said, surprising Itachi. "As I said, you are the only one who can effectively fight the Kazekage, and it would be a shame to just waste an agent. Since an attack on you would mean death, injury, or capture for the Kazekage, I am sure he will be willing to help you defend yourself."

"I doubt that." Itachi muttered. From what he could tell, the leader frowned. "Whatever. I'll do it. But tell me this... why are we sending Gaara all the way to the Land of Clouds? That's practically halfway across the continent."

"Because our own scientists have been proved horribly impractical." the leader said, sounding disgusted. "I realized during your absence that scientists who worked for me were more likely to make mistakes out of fear. Here," he added, tossing Itachi a small bag, "that will be the scientist's payment. Included in that bag is a map on a scroll, telling you where the scientist resides. Good luck."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: This chapter is a little short. Again, most of it is set-up, especially on Itachi's part. Don't worry, there's a point to it all, even stuff that may seem minor. There's a bit of action here, but it's nothing special... I hope you all don't mind. I've remembered to do a few things I don't think I did last chapter... oh well. Thanks for the reviews, and we'll see how it plays out. Enjoy!

Oh, and just as a side note... I can't help but use the Viz names, because it's what I'm used to and I know more of the Viz names than the Japanese ones (Curse you, Shonen Jump!). So, I can't help it. Oh well, I guess I'll just need to increase the jutsu-name studying workload. 

Chapter 5

"You're a fool for thinking you can keep me from running away for long." the tall, red-haired boy said in a growl to Itachi as they walked along the forest path.

"And you're a fool for thinking you can escape my Sharingan." Itachi retorted. His Mangekyo was activated, and Gaara- the Kazekage, the best shinobi in Sunagakure- was walking along in front of him. Because Gaara was in front of him, Itachi would be able to see any moves that Gaara would be about to make, including running off into the trees or using any sort of Ninjutsu.

"I'll escape you eventually." Gaara said in his quiet, yet frightening voice. "You won't be able to keep me from running away for long. I can do things that don't require katas." As if proving his point, Gaara suddenly jerked his right hand in an upward motion, making some dirt on the path fly up into the air. "Geokenesis, the non-ninja community calls it."

"I can tell that you'll do that before you even decide on it." Itachi said. He was thoroughly enjoying Gaara's attempts to prove that he could escape. There was a reason this child was ranked as the leader of the Village Hidden in Sand's ninja. "Not that it would matter. I have a range of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu that could stop you in your tracks."

"So you say." Gaara murmured. From the calmness and quietness of his voice, you would never be able to tell he was one of the most accomplished killers in the world. He waved his hands in a complicated pattern, making the dirt whirl around and dance in midair.

"Yes, I do say." Itachi said, smiling to himself. "You do know that what I learn here could well spell your death?"

Gaara snorted. "You won't reach the Land of Clouds." He didn't seem worried in the least; in truth, he seemed exceedingly confident that Itachi wouldn't catch him if he took off. He swirled the dirt around more, forming it into different shapes. "The only thing I regret is that I'm going in the opposite direction of Sunagakure."

Itachi didn't reply. Something about Gaara's confidence made him uneasy. Gaara had fought Itachi before, and had lost even faster than Kabuto had. Yet Gaara still seemed to think he could overcome Itachi. Was he stupid, or was there a legitimate reason for that confidence?

Gaara raised more dirt and, to Itachi's surprise, he formed it into an exact replica of his own face, from the tattoo in the cowlick on the left side of his head to the basilisk-like glare that was always upon his eyes. "What's the matter?" he asked, the dirt-face moving just as it would if it had been speaking and not Gaara. "Afraid that I have a trick up my sleeve?"

Itachi's face didn't show anything. "Not in the least. I'm more worried that you'll pass gas at this point..."

The dirt-face's eyes narrowed. "I didn't know you had a sense of humor."

Itachi smirked slightly. "Who's being funny?" He shifted his arms slightly, brushing one of the wounds on his chest and causing himself some discomfort. He still couldn't remember how he had gotten those wounds, though his obsessive attempts to get back to Akatsuki HQ could have overridden any memories. He hadn't yet replaced his shirt; he had just thrown his jacket on over the bandages and set off.

"You're hurt." Gaara observed.

"It's nothing bad." Itachi said dismissively. Indeed, he had had much, much worse before. "I can still take you without difficulty."

But Gaara made no attempts to escape for a long time. They traveled in a manner such that they avoided entering countries with their own ninja villages, moving mainly through the small, nearly pointless countries along the border of the Land of Fire. Konoha, which was renowned for producing powerful ninja, would be the last place Itachi wanted to alert of the Kazekage's presence. Sunagakure and Konohagakure were strongly allied now, since Gaara was good friends with many of the Chunin in Konoha.

So Itachi wasn't going to take any chances.

After a week or two, they came across a large river valley that ran through both the Land of Fire and an inconsequential country called Land of Mountains. Itachi thought it was more than likely that Konoha had plenty of Black Ops agents guarding the pass, and took necessary precautions. He zipped up his jacket, to hide the white-and-red bandages, while at the same time tearing a large strip from the end of it to cover Gaara's dark red hair. Traversing held passes wasn't difficult, if you made sure to hide yourself.

"Make any moves to try and alert the Honin to your being here, and I'll hit you with the Art of Paralysis." Itachi growled as they ducked through the bushes and small trees on the slopes of the western mountain. "It's more than my life is worth to kill you."

Gaara said nothing. Itachi knew that he would try something, but whether or not he'd be able to catch him had yet to be determined. Gaara was extremely intelligent, and Itachi knew that he was cooking up a plan now. As he walked, Itachi kept a close eye on Gaara, but couldn't tell that he was doing anything. Sure, both his hands were in front of him, but that didn't mean he was up to something...

Itachi heard movement in the bushes. He snapped his head around and saw a shinobi heading towards him. His hand moving towards his katana as a reflex, Itachi formed several signs one-handed, then held his first two fingers and thumb to his mouth. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique." He blew, spewing a ball of flame at the enemy.

The fireball struck a glancing blow, but heat is one of those things that "almost" counts in. The fireball tore through the ninja's side, spraying- to Itachi's horror- sand everywhere.

_It's a Sand Doppelganger!_

He spun around to look at Gaara, but wasn't fast enough to strike a blow. Dirt seemingly appeared from nowhere and swarmed around Itachi, trapping him in a prison of earth. Gaara stared at him, his left palm pointing at him and his black-rimmed, tanuki-like eyes narrowed. "Sand Doppelgangers and the Art of Transformation work well in combination. Not only can I make them look like someone besides me, but I can take away the sandy color that Sand Doppelgangers typically have." He tightened his fingers, which made the pressure on Itachi nearly unbearable.

"You... little..." Itachi gasped through the dirt that was clogging his nose, his throat, his eyes. "Let me go, or I'll be forced to... ggrraaaagh..." Gaara tightened his fingers almost to the point of closing his fists, causing Itachi a great deal of pain.

"Hard to focus when someone is crushing every square inch of flesh you have, isn't it?" Gaara said, his expression unchanging. "Consider this payback for capturing me in the first place. I'm just disappointed I couldn't reach that shark-man Hoshigaki in time." Gaara then jerked his hand over his shoulder, and Itachi and the entire load of dirt moved behind him. Gaara turned. "I'll make this interesting for you. I'll roll you down the mountain and into the river, and if you have energy enough left to swim, you won't drown. Call it a gift."

He pumped his hand down at the ground and then forward. The prison of sand hit the ground with a bone-shaking jerk and began to roll. Itachi felt every bump, every tree that the bundle broke, every stone that the rolling mass smashed into. It kept rolling, and rolling, and rolling, until Itachi couldn't see any way there was any space left to roll.

And then, much to his surprise, the dirt hit the water, and the dirt broke apart.

---

Sasuke, as it turned out, was at the far end of the river valley, in between the mountains that lay within the Land of Fire's borders. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he was sure would kill him if it didn't go away. He felt feverish, clammy, and he couldn't catch his breath. He was jumpy, and any little sound that an animal in the trees made would make him jerk around to look for the source.

Why did he feel like this? What was wrong with him that he was so hyped up? Orochimaru had been training him for three years for this very moment, a day that would not only increase his chakra by a huge amount but also give him the Mangekyo Sharingan. This was the day that would give him the ability to kill both Orochimaru and Itachi, and finally return home.

... But would he be welcomed home? To murder members of Konoha's elite would be to damn himself and banish himself from Konoha for the rest of his life. He'd never, ever, be able to return, to see the few friends he had, to sleep in a bed that had always been his, to eat in his favorite restaurants...

_What matters is revenge._ a part of him said, the part that could not shake the image of his parents' mangled bodies lying at his brother's feet. _All that matters is killing Itachi. Everything else comes after. You have to kill him._

_But what about Naruto?_ a smaller, weaker part of him said. _And Kakashi-sensei? And what about Sakura? It would crush her if you killed even just Kakashi, let alone Naruto..._

_If killing them and losing Sakura forever is what it takes,_ the first part of him said, determined, _then so be it. It's just like you told her, all those years ago... You're an avenger. Status, rank, friends... none of it matters. "Am I strong?" That's all that should concern you._

Sasuke well remembered that speech he had given Sakura, during the Chunin exams, but he better remembered her tears... He shook his head. "No. I have to kill Itachi, if have to I die and damn myself in the process." Though he by no means felt better, at least the knot in his stomach eased, and he was able to breathe again.

The Land of Fire was a huge country, and it took Sasuke several days to get anywhere even close to Konoha. He found he was able to move quickly in the deciduous forests that made up much of the terrain in the Land of Fire. He knew these forests... He could remember a time before the slaughter, when his father took he and Itachi fishing at the lake that he was now passing. The time that his mother and aunts took he and his brother and cousins for the picnic with the Hyuuga clan on the top of that hill came to mind. He even remembered the day when Naruto dropped a water balloon full of mud on his head, and watching Itachi chase the little bugger down.

Sasuke smiled, even if no one could see.

The small part of him that had remembered Sakura decided to take the time to try and dissuade him. _Is Itachi really that bad? He was your brother, he protected you and helped you and taught you. He never said a bad word about you, though he did beat you up a bit when you really annoyed him. He was never, ever mean to you until that day, and even then, he wasn't mean to you directly... Does he deserve this?_

_Yes._ the bigger, stronger part of him said. _He killed all of them, including your aunts, female cousins, and... your mother._ He gave a shudder. Of all the people that Itachi had killed, his mother was the one that made him angriest. His mother had been one of the kindest, purest people Sasuke had ever known, and Itachi had killed her just like the rest.

Two days later, Sasuke arrived in the thick forests outside Konoha. There was a reason, of course, that it was called the "Village Hidden in the Tree Leaves," because if Sasuke hadn't known where he was going, he would have never found Konoha.

Sasuke pulled a folding tent out of his pack, and set to work putting it up. It was late, and even if he was going to kill Konoha's best Jounin, he'd at least allow them to fight when it was light out. He stared at these trees he knew so well, and he knew that this would be the very last time he'd ever see them. Something tugged at his heartstrings. He put his hand on the trunk of a tree that he had once sat in as a child while he stared at the stars...

And he charged his hand with the Chidori and cut straight through it.

But despite his fierce gestures that made him feel better, his dreams were the most disturbed they had been since he had gone to train with Orochimaru. The faces of the people he had known and trained with while still in Konoha floated up in his dreams... He saw Sakura, crying over his body while Naruto wiped his bloody hand on a tree... Kakashi's head was rolling across the grass, where it was crushed by Neji's body... He was in a dark, cloak-like jacket, with a slash across his hitae-ate, standing over the bodies of his friends...

But then one, more vivid than the others, came to the surface...

_Sasuke entered Konoha, to be met by the Jounin he was supposed to kill. Kakashi stood in the fore, staring at his former apprentice with his one uncovered eye. "I had hoped that you wouldn't force us to do this, Sasuke. I had always hoped that you'd come back peaceably. I wanted you to... for your own sake. But I guess that won't happen now." And with that, they charged him._

_First to fall was Sarutobi Asuma, one of the teachers of the other cells from Sasuke's year at the academy. Blood spattered everywhere from his slit throat, but the other Jounin didn't even seem to notice. Almost instantly, another fell: Yuhi Kurenai, the other teacher from Sasuke's year. Her body was covered in throwing stars, and Sasuke hadn't even broken a sweat yet._

_He was faced with only three more Jounin: Maito Gai, Kakashi, and Neji. Gai started using his extremely powerful Lotus technique, increasing his speed and strength a hundredfold. "You won't beat me now, Uchiha! Your explosion of youth is no match for my experience!" He ran at an insane speed at Sasuke, who was ready._

_Sasuke charged a Chidori, and rather than run at Gai, he waited. Gai launched a kick that caught Sasuke under the chin and sent him flying into the air. Gai then used the "Leaf Shadow" technique, following Sasuke as he flew through the square. "Bad move." Sasuke said, as he flipped in midair and drove the Chidori through Gai's chest, killing him instantly._

_Sasuke pushed the corpse off his forearm, landed, and stood to face Kakashi and Neji. "It's over." he said. "Make this easy on yourselves, and just let me slit your wrists. I swear it'll be painless."_

_"Shut up." Neji said. "You may be an Uchiha, but I'm Hyuuga Neji, the most powerful member of my clan in history." The veins around his eyes suddenly bulged as he activated his Byakugan. He could now see nearly 360 degrees in every direction, and could even see the chakra gates in Sasuke's body. "Die! You will pay for betraying Konoha in such a brutal fashion! I had been willing to forgive you, but no more!"_

_"Suits me." Sasuke said, taking out a kunai. He dodged all of Neji's strikes, which were aimed at one chakra gate or another. Then, when Neji launched a particularly powerful and momentum-filled punch, Sasuke jabbed his kunai into Neji's neck as he flew past. Blood exploded all over him, and Neji died quietly. Now, it was down to Kakashi and Sasuke._

"_Sasuke... Why!" Kakashi cried, suddenly overcome with emotion. "How could you do this to us? First you betray us for Orochimaru, then you nearly kill Naruto, and now you kill all these people? Who are you! You're certainly not the Uchiha Sasuke I remember!"_

"_That's because I'm not the Uchiha Sasuke you remember." Sasuke said, taking out his favorite weapon: an oversized kunai, that could be wielded as a sword. "Kakashi... I'm sorry, but you have to die." He charged Kakashi and swung the giant kunai. Kakashi tried to block with his own kunai, but the mass of Sasuke's was too much, and Kakashi's shattered. Sasuke's kunai kept going and cut through the top of Kakashi's skull, taking with it a large portion of his brain._

_As Kakashi fell, Sasuke heard a strangled cry from behind him. He turned to see Sakura, still pink-haired, still overly emotional, and still obviously infatuated with Sasuke. She ran over to him, crying; he paid her no mind. She seized his arm and shrieked, "Sasuke! How could you...? How could you kill all these people? They just wanted to help you... and you killed them! Why? Sasuke, why!"_

"_Let go." Sasuke said, trying to tug his arm away. Sakura held fast._

"_Why, Sasuke!"_

"_Let go."_

"_How could you?" Tears were spilling down her face and onto his arm and shoulder._

"_Let go!"_

"_Why did you kill them!"_

"_LET GO!" Sasuke roared, losing control. Before he could stop himself, he had driven a small kunai into Sakura's chest._

"_W-why..." Sakura died, slumping forward. But, to Sasuke's amazement, she didn't let go of his arm even in death. He felt tears come to his eyes, and..._

"SAKURA!" He sat bolt upright in his sleeping bag, covered in a cold sweat and warm tears. He hadn't cried since... since he had nearly died on his first true mission as a shinobi. He shivered. Embarrassed even though no one had seen, he moved a shaking hand to wipe away the tears. "D-damn it..."

Sasuke held a hand to the left side of his chest, and felt his head beating faster than he had ever felt it before. He shook his head. "I... I can't do this... I..." He put a hand over his eyes. He felt deeply ashamed that he had cried, even though it had been unconscious; he felt even more ashamed and disturbed that he had killed Sakura in his dream. Even now... even if she went over to Itachi's side... He didn't know if he could kill her.

"Why is this happening to me?" he muttered, using his shirt to wipe the sweat away.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: This is a long, long chapter. I hope you're able to sit through it and read it all... It's very action-packed, though, so it shouldn't be too bad!

Chapter 6

Sasuke didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night. He sat shivering in his sleeping bag, worried that if he went back to sleep, he'd have another horrible nightmare. It was like the last three years with Orochimaru had never happened. Sasuke felt slow, stupid, and childish, like he was seven and Itachi had just killed his clan all over again.

When the sun finally rose, Sasuke managed to stand up on his wobbling legs to go outside and relieve himself. He knew that Konoha's morning patrol was on its way out to check the surroundings, and that he was close enough to Konoha that he was likely to be caught. He zipped up his shorts and went back into the tent to put on his hitae-ate and boots. The more prepared he was, the better.

Sasuke kindled a small fire and put some rice and water in a pot over it (alas, there was no milk). He was tired, but only in a psychological and emotional sense; physically, he felt as fresh and strong as he ever did. The night had worn him down. That dream, for whatever reason, had disturbed him so profoundly that he nearly burned the rice. "Crap..." he muttered, pulling the pot off the fire and looking down into it, getting a face-full of hot steam. He spent the next five minutes hopping around camp, cursing rather loudly.

When he finally settled down to eat, Sasuke was constantly looking over his shoulder. Traditionally, Konoha sent only Chunin on the patrols, so he shouldn't have much trouble killing the ones closest to him silently so as to not make the others aware of his presence. Not only that, but since the patrol members always had backup no more than 35 yards away, they didn't need to worry about being quiet. Which, admittedly, gave Sasuke the advantage.

As he was finishing his rice, Sasuke finally heard the telltale crunching of bushes and twigs. He reached for a kunai just as the Chunin broke through the bushes. Sasuke half-sighed in relief that it was no one he knew.

"What...?" the Chunin muttered, apparently to himself. "The Betrayer?" He opened his mouth wide to call for reinforcements, but Sasuke's kunai flew through the air and pierced his chest before he could say anything. Making a sound like a leaking balloon, he fell over.

"Good." Sasuke said. "Only one to deal with now." That one appeared rather quickly. He burst from the trees on the right side of Sasuke's camp, and before he could even notice that Sasuke was there, there was a kunai in the back of his neck. He collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

After hiding the corpses in his tent and sitting on a log outside for quite some time, Sasuke realized that if he was going to complete his assignment, it had better be soon. So, with that, he packed several kunai, a load of throwing stars, and his oversized kunai and headed towards Konoha. He began charging his chakra in every inch of his body that he could before he even reached the gate, just to make sure that he speed, strength, and reflexes were up to snuff.

Sasuke stopped suddenly and hid behind the man gate, taking only a second to peek around it. It was likely that there were people, whether ninja or not, inside the gate. Above all, whether he was a traitor or not, he did not want to hurt innocent civilians. That, he felt, would be more despicable than what he was preparing to do.

There were about a dozen children, their mothers, and- Sasuke's heart gave a jolt- Hyuuga Neji, one of his targets. He had wanted to get all of the Jounin together so that he could do this and be done, but he realized how foolish that was as he thought of it. Screwing up his courage, he stepped through the gates.

Neji saw him instantly, because of his Byakugan, but showed no signs. Instead, he turned to the knot of mothers and said, "Ladies, I would suggest taking your children to the other side of the village." He rounded up the children over the mothers' protests, and shooed them away with little trouble. For the first time, he turned to look at Sasuke. "So, traitor, you've decided to return. Has Orochimaru sent you, or have you come to beg for mercy?"

"I wouldn't beg for mercy from you even if I hadn't betrayed Konoha." Sasuke spat, activating his Sharingan. "You lost to Naruto, didn't you? You're not worth the time of day. So, just let me kill you easily so I can move on to bigger and better targets."

"You won't get any farther." Neji said, clenching his fists and striking a fighting stance. "If it's Hokage-sama you're after, you won't get to her. I'll kill you here, or die trying."

"Brave speech." Sasuke said, taking out a throwing star. "But I'm not after Hokage, nor am I after the Council. I'm after... you." He charged Neji.

Neji threw a punch that was aimed at Sasuke's left shoulder. Sasuke dodged to the right and threw the throwing star, but Neji deflected it by charging his chakra into it and waving his hand. Sasuke threw two punches, one at Neji's right arm and the other at where he'd dodge. Neji dodged down and to the left, was clipped by Sasuke's punch, and stumbled. Sasuke launched a kick at Neji's torso, but was blocked and thrown backward.

"Didn't see that, did you?" Neji sneered. He straightened up, his fists still clenched. "Your Sharingan doesn't see everything, now does it? Well, my Byakugan does."

"In a literal sense, maybe." Sasuke said, getting back off his feet. "I guess it didn't see everything when I hit you in the side."

Neji ran at Sasuke again, but this time Sasuke wasn't going t use Taijutsu. Forming three simple signs, he held this first two fingers and thumb to his mouth, cried, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" and blew. The flames launched at Neji, who dodged and punched Sasuke squarely in the side. Sasuke was lifted off his feet, and as Neji ran beneath him, prepared to stab at him with a kunai, he flipped over, caught Neji's arm, and twisted it.

Sasuke it the ground and got up quickly, blocked a punch, and threw one of his own. Neji wasn't used to fighting Ninjutsu, because he, his teammates, and his master were all either skilled with Taijutsu or weapons. As Neji slid backwards from the force of Sasuke's punch, Sasuke took out a kunai, performed some signs, and said, "Art of Lava's Whip!" Just as it had with the Otogakure Jounin, a long whip of fire extended from the kunai.

"This'll be it." Sasuke said, whipping the fire towards Neji. To his surprise, Neji dodged as he started making his own signs. Determined to keep Neji from attacking, Sasuke attacked at hand-level, but Neji ducked and said, "Lightning Style: The Shocking Shuriken!" He threw three invisible throwing stars, but Sasuke saw that as soon as Neji's hand went back for the next shuriken, the one he had just thrown appeared as a little burst of electricity.

Sasuke's whip disappeared, and he ducked and dodged the three throwing stars. "Too bad." Sasuke started to say, but before he could make his next move, Neji had gestured toward himself and Sasuke felt three sharp pains in his back. "Ugh..." he grunted, but again, as he went to make his next move, he felt pain: this time, an electrical shock that blasted him backwards and onto his back. He lay there for a few seconds without moving, but then groaned and started to stand.

Neji walked over and kicked him in the stomach. "It's over, Betrayer." he said, taking a kunai from his pack and holding it so it pointed downwards at Sasuke. "Give hell my regards." As he drove the kunai down, Sasuke used both legs to kick him underneath the chin, knocking him high into the air.

Sasuke decided to take one of his own techniques and modify it. He formed several signs, yelled, "Art of the Shadow Doppelganger!" and leapt into the air after Neji, using the same technique to follow him that Maito Gai had in the dream. Then, he spun and kicked Neji in the stomach, then repeated it twice, knocking Neji lower each time. Then, just inches from the ground, the two Doppelgangers that he had created leapt up with him, and at the same time all three of them kicked Neji in the stomach. "Triple Shishirendan!"

Sasuke landed a few feet away and dissipated his Doppelgangers. Neji lay motionless, barely breathing, definitely unconscious. Sasuke was starting to feel lucky that he had not only copied the Leaf Shadow technique from Gai's student and Neji's former teammate Rock Lee, but also the Shadow Doppelgangers from Naruto. Sasuke, feeling sick, took out a kunai and walked closer to Neji, ready to kill him.

"If you touch him with that kunai, I'll give you such a book-whip that you won't know what hit you." a familiar, muffled voice said from behind Sasuke.

Sasuke turned to see his former teacher, Hatake Kakashi, leaning against a building with a copy of his favorite (rather obscene) book series, "Icha Icha Paradise," in hand. He tugged at the mask that covered his nose and mouth, as if it were uncomfortable. "Good to see you, Sasuke."

"Can't say the feeling is mutual." Sasuke said, straightening up and staring at Kakashi. "Sorry, but you're on my list, too. I've got to take you down, just like I did Neji."

Kakashi's eye closed and curved upwards, signifying that he was smiling. "Who do you think you're talking to? I'm 'Copy-Ninja Kakashi,' remember? I've got more Ninjutsu ready to use against you than Orochimaru could show you in a lifetime." He stopped smiling and stowed the book in his pack. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, but now that you've nearly killed Neji, you're definitely an enemy of Konoha. I want to try and bring you back into the fold, but... I'm not sure Hokage-sama would allow it."

"I don't want to come back." Sasuke spat. "There are things far more important than loyalty to friends and country." He flipped the kunai around in his hand. "And if killing you means that I'll get to stay with Orochimaru and continue training till I'm stronger than him, than I'll kill you."

"What makes you think that Orochimaru's training will make you strong enough to beat Itachi?" Sasuke felt as if he'd been slapped. "Yes, you're that transparent." Kakashi sighed. "It's pretty obvious that you're using Orochimaru merely as a tool in your revenge. But Orochimaru is nothing... _nothing_ compared to Itachi."

"Shut up." Sasuke said. "I'll show you that I can beat Itachi!" His hands flew as he performed many complicated signs with the kunai still in his hand. He began to charge the Chidori. "My training is paying off in big ways!"

Kakashi shrugged and pulled his hitae-ate up away from his left eye, which it had been covering. His left eye, which was permanently Sharingan, glared at Sasuke as he charged his strongest attack. "Sasuke... your Chidori is perfect in the way you form and use it, but you just don't have the power inherent to beat me." Kakashi formed the same signs and charged his own legendary Chidori, so strong it earned the name "Raikiri" ("Lightning Blade") because of a rumor that Kakashi had cut a bolt of lightning with it.

"Oh yeah?" Sasuke asked. "We'll see!" He threw his right arm back and began to charge Kakashi, but before he could get anywhere he felt at least three pairs of arms throw themselves around him.

"What a pain in the butt." a boy's sarcastic voice said. "You should feel lucky, Sasuke, 'cause I was sleeping, but this lot insisted I come help."

"Shut up, Shika!" a girl's voice shrieked, from the level of Sasuke's waist. "We couldn't let him do this!"

"Never!" another boy's voice said, from the area of the powerful arms that here holding his right arm, Chidori and all, back. "Sasuke is the best hope of the Uchiha clan, and the only one truly worthy of Sakura-san's affections!"

"Oh, what happened to you, huh?" the first boy's voice said.

"Get off!" Sasuke roared, recognizing the voices: the first was that of Nara Shikamaru, smartest person in Konoha, but also the laziest. The girl was Yamanaka Ino, another one of Sasuke's "groupies," as Naruto called them, and Sakura's rival. The final voice was Rock Lee's, the boy that was already Konoha's Taijutsu master and who was head-over-heels for Sakura. "Let me go! I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to!"

"Yeah, yeah." Shika said, apparently rolling his eyes. "As if we haven't heard that one before." He had a strong grip on Sasuke's shoulders, and despite Sasuke's struggling, he didn't let go. "You should be grateful. Do you know how screwed you'd be if you hurt Kakashi? He's so highly ranked now that he's probably next in line to be Hokage!"

"A worthy rival to Gai-sensei!" Lee said. His grip on Sasuke's arm was bone crushing, and Sasuke knew that if Lee didn't let go soon, his arm would snap. "Sasuke-kun, you cannot be allowed to harm Kakashi-san! I would give my life to keep you from ruining yours!"

"Criminals aren't good suitors..." Ino said, probably more to herself than anyone else. "I can't let you hurt anyone!"

"Forget it." Sasuke said. "Get out of my way." He focused a good deal of his chakra into his skin, then spun around, throwing off all three of his captors. He turned back to Kakashi. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." Kakashi said, his Raikiri howling in his hand. They charged each other, and in a flash of light, it was over. They stood, back to each other, in a cliché form of a sword duel. "Impressive." Kakashi commented. "Even without all that power, your form was excellent. That may well have made up for the difference in power." With those final words, the area under his right arm exploded in blood, and he collapsed, gasping.

Sasuke, however, had not been unharmed. He was clutching his shoulder, which had been grazed by Kakashi's Raikiri. It was bleeding profusely, but he wasn't worried about that. What mattered was killing the person who now stood before him. That blond hair, those freakish blue eyes, the idiotic orange uniform...

"Naruto." Sasuke said, smiling grimly. "Good of you to show up and save me the trouble of looking for you."

"You... you retard..." Naruto growled, surveying the damage. Lee was starting to get up, but Neji, Shika and Ino were still down, and Kakashi, though conscious, could barely move. "How could you do this...? Your teacher... your friends... you... you humungous DICK!"

Sasuke coughed. "Are you going to insult me all day, or are you going to fight me?" he asked, taking out his oversized kunai. "I'll beat you this time, just like I did last time around."

Naruto shook his head. "No. You won't." He took out a kunai. "I'm not the same one-trick dunce that you fought last time."

"Prove it." Sasuke said, and he ran at Naruto. He slashed horizontally, even though he could see that Naruto would duck. But yet... Naruto didn't duck. He jumped over the slash and threw the kunai at Sasuke. Though Sasuke caught it without trouble, he was confused. His Sharingan had never failed to read a move before. What was going on?

"Ha!" Naruto cried triumphantly. "Art of the Shadow Doppelganger!" About a dozen Doppelgangers appeared above Sasuke, and they and the real Naruto kicked at Sasuke as they fell on him. Sasuke charged his kunai with a little chakra, so when he swung it, Naruto and his Doppelgangers were blown away.

"Still specializing in Doppelgangers, eh?" Sasuke said, tenderly touching his shoulder in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "I thought you weren't a one trick pony?"

"I'm not." Naruto said. "Art of Transformation!" Suddenly, all twelve Doppelgangers turned into huge shuriken, which Naruto threw at Sasuke with his chakra. Sasuke, seeing nothing else to do, turned and ran. The shuriken were so large, and they were spaced so well, that he couldn't have dodged even if he hadn't been hurt.

Sasuke was trapped. There was a building ahead of him, and the wall of shuriken behind him. With no other choice, he charged a Chidori in one hand and performed several odd signs with the other. "Art of the Solid Sound!" Suddenly, the high-pitched screech that the Chidori made was made solid, and it rocketed forward and cut through each of the shuriken. Sasuke returned the energy from the Chidori back into his arm. "Ha."

But Naruto wasn't were he had been before. Sasuke looked around wildly, but saw nothing. From above him, he heard, "Toad Style: Tongue Trap!" Sasuke looked up to see a long, sticky toad tongue shoot from Naruto's hand and wrap around him. Sasuke lost his balance and toppled over, unable to walk or move in any way.

"Got ya!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air. "Now what, traitor-boy? How ya gonna get outta this one, huh?" He walked close to Sasuke, who struggled fruitlessly against his bonds. Naruto crouched down and stuck his face right in Sasuke's. "Huh? What're you gonna do now? Ya got beat by the stupid dunce, didn't you? How stupid do you feel now?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke roared, pulling his arms free. He snatched Naruto's kunai before he could react and cut through the tongue. He went to stab Naruto, but he had stepped back and taken out a bunch of throwing stars. Sasuke picked up his oversized kunai. "I'm sick of your crap. You're not gonna live long enough to regret patronizing me!"

"Oh, because you've never said that to the rest of us." Shikamaru muttered audibly. Naruto snorted, but again Sasuke yelled, "SHUT UP!" He swung his kunai as hard as he could, not even caring to watch Naruto's reaction with his Sharingan.

"You're losing it, buddy." Naruto said, taking another step back. Sasuke gave a roar of rage and swung again, harder, again missing. "Come on. I know you can do better than that." Naruto said, smiling, and Sasuke again swung, this time even harder. The momentum made it hard to get ready for a second strike, and in the time that Sasuke had to compensate for the movement, Naruto punched him twice in the stomach and once in the cheek.

Sasuke fell backward, where he glowered at Naruto. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked with false curiosity. "Or has Orochimaru poisoned your brain so that you think anger is a good weapon?"

"You sonnuva-" Sasuke started, but was cut off when Naruto kneed him in the side of the head, sending him flying into the building's wall. "God... _damn_ you!" Sasuke gasped as he stood up again.

"Stop being so annoyed." Naruto said, shrugging. "It's no fun fighting a weakling." He shrugged. "Ol' Ero-sennin says that anger clouds your ability to fight."

"Fine." Sasuke snapped. "You'll regret this, though." He tried to calm himself, but now that his anger was out of the way, his fear resurfaced. He'd have to kill Naruto... He tried to calm himself more, and busied himself with a range of signs. "Art of the Flaming Palms!" He dropped his kunai and charged Naruto.

"Holy crap!" Naruto cried, dodging the first few punches Sasuke threw and running from the others. Sasuke gave chase, ready to do all the damage necessary. Naruto, however, suddenly turned around and flung a kunai at Sasuke. Sasuke was forced to catch the kunai, melting it over his hand. Naruto took advantage of the distraction by punching Sasuke as hard as his could in the gut.

Sasuke flew backwards and landed, clawing desperately at the melted steel that was flowing freely over his hands. It dripped off and onto the ground, because Sasuke had his hands held off to the side. When it was all off, he stopped using the Flaming Palms Ninjutsu and stood.

"I'll give you this: you know how to exploit my powers." Sasuke said, panting.

"I do?" Naruto asked blankly. "I hadn't expected you to catch that kunai."

"You really are a dunce, aren't you?" Sasuke muttered. "Well, then, this'll have to come down to one last move." He performed the signs for the Chidori and charged it as quickly as he could. "You're doing down."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto said, forming chakra in one hand and spinning it around with the other. "Try me."

"I'm about to." Sasuke replied, and he charged Naruto.

Naruto stopped spinning the Rasengan, and ran at Sasuke.

When the two chakras touched, there was an explosion that downed electrical poles for a radius of about 50 yards, blew out windows, formed a crater in the ground, and sent a wave of air flying in all directions.

When it was all said and done, Naruto was the one standing, if only because he hadn't been wounded before the fight. He was now, though; blood was pouring from his nose and mouth, there were wounds up and down his arms and legs, and one of his eyes was black and blue.

Sasuke was in much worse shape. From the three Chidoris he had used, his chakra was nearly expended, and his shoulder wound had been opened up even more by the force of the impact of Chidori on Rasengan. Like Naruto, blood was gushing from his nose and mouth, but some of his ribs were broken and, judging by the pain, he had sprained his left ankle.

People were starting to leave their houses, coming out to see what had happened. Children were crying, with parents who were looking worried and were trying to shield them from the horrors that waited outside. Ninja of all ranks were coming out of the training buildings and the intelligence center and command building, trying to figure out what massive chakra had caused this damage. The students from the Ninja Academy were filing out, kunai and shuriken ready, to fight whatever had come to threaten their village.

"Nothing to worry about!" Naruto called. He flashed the crowd a cocky grin before shuddering with pain. "I t-took care of it. You're all fine, you can go back inside... No danger here, go ahead..."

Shika, Ino, and Lee were climbing back to their feet. Lee was first up, since he was the strongest out of the three, and he walked over to Sasuke. "You did this to yourself, Sasuke-kun. Even for the mistakes of youth, this is nearly unforgivable... But, Sasuke-kun, for Sakura-san's sake I will make every attempt to forgive you."

Sasuke honestly wanted to say, "Keep your forgiveness." But, he found himself unable to, whether because of injury or because he just couldn't bring himself to. So, instead, he said, "Thank you... Lee." Lee bent down and slung Sasuke's good arm around his shoulders and hefted him off the ground.

Ino ran over as soon as her feet were underneath her. "Sasuke! Are you alright? I was so-" Shikamaru caught her by the shoulder before she could throw herself onto Sasuke. "Hey! We were having moment, there, Shika! What's the matter- jealous!"

Shika glanced at her with a look of mild annoyance. "Hardly. And for a 'moment,' that was awful one-sided." Ino flushed with anger. "Hey, give the guy some time. He's in a bad way, so let him heal before you get him sick all over again." Ino smacked him across the back of the head, but he didn't seem to notice. "C'mon, Lee, let's take him to Hokage-sama. She'll be able to heal him."

"But will she heal him?"

Kakashi was being helped to his feet by Naruto, who admittedly made him look quite healthy. Kakashi pulled his hitae-ate back down over his left eye. "He's still a traitor, and I'm not sure that Tsunade will be too quick to heal one of Orochimaru's men. Assuming, of course, that you'll be going back to him."

Sasuke laughed in a half-hearted sort of way. "You kidding? I failed to kill any of you. Even..." He laughed again, and gestured painfully at Shika and Ino. "Even the Chunin. There's no going back now."

"And Itachi?" Kakashi asked.

"He'll die. I can't come back here until he's dead."

"Let us help you, Sasuke." Kakashi said, spreading his arms. "With all of us, he'll-"

"No." Sasuke said flatly. "Can we at least try going to Hokage-sama?" he said to Lee, who nodded.

"Sasuke?" a panicked voice from behind him said. Lee turned to see who it was, and nearly dropped Sasuke.

"Sakura-san!" Lee brightened up considerably.

Sakura ignored him. "Oh, Sasuke, what happened to you? You look like you've been hit by a truck!"

Sasuke smiled grimly. "There are those who would call Naruto a truck." Sakura looked up to shout at Naruto, but Sasuke said, "Don't bother. I deserved it... and I have a feeling I'll deserve another beating like this when I get back."

"You mean..." Sakura stared at him in horror. "You're going _back_? You're leaving again?" Sasuke nodded weakly. "Oh, no, please, don't leave! Y-you can't go! P-please, Sasuke, d-don't go!" She looked on the verge of tears.

"Sakura, I don't-"

"P-promise me you'll stay here!"

"I can't-"

"Promise me, please, j-just-"

"Shut up." Sasuke said, leaving Sakura looking as if she were going to begin to sob. "And don't you dare cry over me. I'm not worth it. Look," he said, with a sigh, "you don't understand why I left in the first place. I haven't done what I had left to do. And... not even for your sake will I return before I've killed him."

Sakura's lower lip trembled. "L-lee... take him to my house."

"WHAT!" Both Lee and Sasuke's jaws dropped.

"But Sakura-san, he's-"

"Sakura, I just want to be healed so I can-"

"You need rest." Sakura said, more firmly. "Even if your wounds are healed, your chakra will be spent. Please, even if it's just for the night, it'd make me feel better..."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine... Just take me to Hokage-sama first, so I can be..." He stopped as Sakura pressed her hand to his mouth. "H-hey, what're you-?" He was shocked to notice that suddenly, his busted lip was healed. "You can heal people...?" he asked hoarsely.

Sakura nodded. "I've been training with Tsunade-sensei- I mean, Hokage-sama. You and Naruto were both training with a Sannin, so it's only fitting that I would, too." She smiled. "Here, let me take care of this." She pulled him from Lee and put her hands over his nose, his shoulder, his ankle. He was a little embarrassed when she asked him to pull up his shirt so she could heal his ribs, but that was over quickly.

He stood up, feeling healthy but tired. "Thanks, Sakura." he said. Neji was starting to get up, and when Sakura had taken Sasuke from Lee, Lee had gone to check on him. "We'll have to fight again sometime, Neji. I'm sorry if I hurt you too bad."

"Quiet." Neji said. "Your attacks weren't so strong that I'm in need of sympathy." He cracked his neck and rubbed his stomach tenderly. "But when we do fight again, I'll make sure you pay for doing me this dishonor and for betraying our village."

Sasuke snorted. "Try me... when I get back." It was just then that he noticed that Sakura had gone to heal Kakashi and Naruto, both of whom were looking rather annoyed. He walked over to Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei... I'm sorry, but it had to be done. Even now I hold my revenge over everything else, but since I can't go back to Orochimaru, I've got no reason to want you dead anymore."

"Um..." Kakashi looked confusedly at him. "Right... Thanks."

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "Hey, screw-up... thanks."

Naruto laughed. "You're kiddin' me. You can't really be thankful, can you?"

A sad smile crossed Sasuke's face for just a moment before he said, "You'll never know quite how thankful I really am."

---

Author's Note: This is my personal favorite chapter, except maybe the last. I think that the reactions the different characters have to Sasuke's return are interesting, because for the most part, I think they're unexpected. (Shika's, for example.) Oh, and if you're wondering why Sasuke didn't use the curse mark... It's probably because he didn't want to rely on anything but definite skills he got from Orochimaru. He didn't want to use power that wasn't his to beat his old friends. Well, I hope you liked it!


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note: From here on until the final chapter, the chapters become more introspective. A lot of what you're going to be reading is persuasion for the events during that final, inevitable battle between Sasuke and Itachi (yes, it is coming, and if you didn't realize that, then you know now). The action, in this chapter, is kinda lacking, but don't worry, it'll be back next chapter. So please, be patient with me, and do try to read and review. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

"Uhhhnn..." Itachi raised a hand to his forehead and rubbed it carefully. Why was it pounding? His memories were muddled, and he couldn't make sense of what his eyes and ears were telling him. It took a long time before even his memories were put together correctly, though they weren't in the right order.

_"You idiot!" Itachi roared, seizing his katana and chasing after Sasuke. "I told you not to touch my shuriken, and now look what you've done!" He pointed angrily at his hitae-ate, which had a shuriken stuck in the middle of the leaf._

_"I didn't do it on purpose!" Sasuke shouted over his shoulder as he danced down the stairs, ducking the slashes Itachi took at him. He bounded down through the hallway and out into the street._

_"Itachi! Itachi, help me!" Sasuke, as usual, was being chased by someone; in this case, a gang of older boys who had gotten involved with the local yakuza. They were laughing and cheering as the largest boy managed to trip Sasuke and pointed his sword at him. _

_Itachi stepped forward. "Touch him and die." He drew two kunai._

_"Try us, ninja-boy!"_

_Itachi lived up to his promise. Soon, the body of the boy lay in a heap next to Sasuke, who was shivering in fear. "Are you alright?" Itachi asked, crouching down next to Sasuke. The younger boy nodded shakily..._

_"And here's your little brother, Itachi!" the black haired woman sitting in the hospital bed lowered the bundle towards the small child at the bedside. A shock of raven-wing hair protruded from underneath the blankets._

_"Why's he have hair already?" Itachi asked in a high-pitched, childish voice. "I saw piccers of me, I didn't have hair."_

_His mother, Mikoto, smiled. "Every baby is different. And that makes each one just as special as every other!"_

_"What'cha gonna call 'im?" Itachi asked._

_His mother looked down at the fragile life in her arms and said, "Sasuke."_

Itachi woke with a shock. He was suddenly, horribly, unavoidably aware of everything around him. He was lying facedown on a riverbank, the river coursing gently nearby, with animals chirping and hissing and groaning and going about their daily lives. Itachi felt something cold and wet at his shoulder.

He turned his head slowly to see a deer sniffing him with interest. "Get back, you beast." he said quietly. The deer backed off a little, but didn't leave. "Don't you know who I am?" Itachi asked, bemused. The deer looked at him blankly, and came closer again to sniff him. "What do you want?"

The deer heard something, and ran off into the trees. Itachi sat up. He was bare-chested; his bandages had washed away, and his jacket was caught on a tree branch on the other side of the river. "Damn that demon child." Itachi muttered, feeling a large, open wound on his back.

He felt horrible. He must have been at least twenty-five miles into the Land of Fire. It would be next to impossible to get out and get medical attention without being seen by ninja from Konoha. At the same time, if he stayed, he'd die of infection. He had no medical supplies, no bandages... Not to mention that the wound had been left to fester for what was probably days.

"I'm not going to let some little microbe kill me." Itachi said, standing. He wasn't really weak, but the pain from the wound seemed to spread to every other part of his body. He focused his chakra into his thighs and calves, and jumped the river with ease. He pulled his jacket off the branch and set off.

He didn't know why, but his hallucinations had made him uneasy. It was rare that Itachi would dwell on the past, but his escapades in his memory had broken the dam, and things he had long forgotten were seeping through.

_"Itachi! Itachi, come back here!" Uchiha Fugaku, Itachi and Sasuke's father, ran as fast as he could after his fleet-footed son. "Put that down, it's dangerous!"_

_Itachi had clutched in his hand a scroll containing several powerful Fire-style techniques. Itachi was maybe four, and was eager to kick-start his Ninjutsu training as soon as he could. He peeled back the first part of the scroll and looked at it. "Fireball? OK!" He stopped running, and dropped the scroll. He formed his small, clumsy hands into the signs required for the technique, and..._

_"Fire-style: Great Fireball Technique!" He put his fingers to his mouth and blew. A small, but definitely existent, flame blew out from them._

_Fugaku stopped dead. "He... used the Fireball? But... he's not even five yet... He can't be a man..."_

_Itachi just grinned up at his father. "Did'ja see that, daddy? Did'ja? Wasn't it great? I can't wait to be a ninja!"_

_Uchiha Shisui laughed and balanced himself on the bridge ledge. "Look at this, Itachi! I'm already mastering the basic physical arts!"_

_Itachi, aged six and a half, shrugged. "Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are way stronger. I'll definitely focus on them." He grinned, did a few quick signs, and blew a bit of fire out of his mouth. "And someday, I'll be the best ninja in the world!"_

_Shisui laughed again. "You'll have to kill me before I'll let you be best..."_

_Itachi, at about 13, stared at the scroll that he had found, hidden deep in the cave behind the Uchiha houses. He had never known that the cave was used for anything, but, lo and behold, there it was. It was wrapped in a strange, metallic black paper that he'd never seen the likes of before._

_"I guess it won't hurt to look..." he said, unsure of himself. He reached out... His fingers touched the cold, stiff surface of the scroll. He lifted it, careful not to do anything too unwieldy with it, and looked at it. It was a short scroll, whatever it was for, and on the side that had been facing away from him was the kanji for "Forbidden."_

"_I wonder what this is." Itachi said, his curiosity piqued. He unwrapped it, and read the words:_

_**The Sharingan is our Uchiha clan's most powerful technique, and is a joyous gift for all of Uchiha heritage to have. However, this same gift has a dark side. An Uchiha must never kill his closest brother, the one he would do anything for, for if he does, the darkness and kaleidoscope-like evil will overcome him. The Three Siblings will be his to command, and never, ever will he be allowed to call himself an Uchiha again.**_

"_What's that mean?" Itachi wondered aloud, reading the scroll over once again. "Does this mean that I'd get a new power... if I killed Sasuke?" He silently mouthed the description of the closest brother. "No, that can't be Sasuke. Maybe... Shisui? But why would I kill him...?"_

Itachi shuddered. So that was how he had learned of the Mangekyo... He had locked this, with all the other memories, into his head, so he'd never remember them. He knew how this story ended, though: His curiosity overwhelmed him until, one day, he killed Shisui just to find out what the scroll was talking about. And when he activated his Sharingan, he knew.

He continued walking. He still didn't regret what he had done; the Mangekyo had been the best thing to ever happen to him. At the same time, if he hadn't opened that scroll, he'd still have a friend that would stick with him through the thickest... He'd still have parents who loved him and supported him... And, somehow most importantly...

He'd still have a brother who wanted him to live.

_Weakling._ he snapped at himself. _You don't need your brother. And why do you care about him? He'd kill you first chance he got. It'd be better to do him in once you're healed and just be done with it._

_But why?_ Itachi felt shocked at this second voice. It was one he hadn't heard in eight years, since before he had killed Shisui. _He can't kill you. He's no threat._

_And that makes him any less annoying?_ the savage voice that was basically his persona now said. _He'll get in the way, and if he tries to fight me in a true sense, he'll just cause himself more pain. If I could just dig a kunai into his throat, he'd be dead before he could know he'd been wounded._

_You won't do that._ the second voice said, sounding fainter. _You want the challenge..._

Maybe I do, Itachi thought, separate from the two voices. But that doesn't mean he'll live much longer...

Sasuke felt... strange. He hadn't felt like this in so long, that he had thought he never would again. For the first time since the slaughter, he felt... safe. And warm. And... dare he think it?... happy. As he lay on Sakura's couch, staring up at the dark ceiling, he felt more content than he had since the last time his mother had held him, the last time his father had congratulated him on a job well done.

Even in the darkness, Sasuke knew he was blushing from embarrassment.

The evening had been stressful enough. Sakura had insisted on dragging him out to dinner, despite his protests of having enough rice to feed an army. It had been nice enough, Sasuke thought, but Sakura had been pestering him about the training he had been doing with Orochimaru. Sasuke had not said a word on the subject, and had begun to feel slightly paranoid because he knew the other patrons had been staring at him and whispering behind their hands.

They had returned to Sakura's house after just a little while. They had sat and talked, or more accurately, Sakura had sat and talked. She took the liberty of informing him of everything that had gone on in Konoha since he had left, up to and including who had bought the old Uchiha house that had been his since the slaughter.

This hadn't made Sasuke very happy, but the subject changed quickly to happier things. Though he did do a bit of talking, Sasuke had found it hard to communicate. He hadn't been able to truly talk about what he thought and felt for three years (thought, admittedly, he never had, even as a small child). As such, he was uncomfortable when Sakura asked him how he felt after dinner, or what he thought of how Naruto was progressing, or whether he liked the pink or the green bed sheets better on the futon in her room.

"Sakura, it really doesn't matter to me." he had muttered, only to have them both thrown in his face. Sakura hadn't talked to him for a full five minutes when the silence had overwhelmed her and she began talking loudly about the food at the restaurant they had gone to.

Needless to say, Sasuke was quite happy when she finally went up to bed.

His mind, for the most part, was on what he would do now that he was through with Orochimaru's training. He knew that, sooner rather than later, his fight with Itachi was coming. There was nothing he could do to avoid it. If he wasn't going to be training, he couldn't advance any more, and if he couldn't advance any more, he'd better just get it over with. He played through scenarios in his mind, thinking about what moves he'd use, and where he'd strike, and what counters he'd use.

Sasuke didn't expect to return from the battle alive.

He hadn't told Sakura or Naruto or even Kakashi about this, because he knew they'd just worry. But he was horribly aware of how weak he was, particularly after his last altercation with Itachi and his battle with Naruto. If his Chidori couldn't stand up to a Rasengan, how would it be any good against an Amaterasu? Would a kunai really be able to beat Itachi's mastery with a katana?

Sasuke had butterflies in his stomach. He had been sure he had felt, while walking through the river valley, two very powerful chakras: one he knew immediately, because it was as unique as Naruto's; it had to be Gaara, because there were two very distinct chakras blended into one body. The other, however, was both much more concentrated and much... darker. Sasuke would have given his left ear to bet that this chakra belonged to Itachi... which meant only one thing. His brother was lurking nearby.

At the same time, Sasuke wasn't sure how Gaara had gotten away from the Akatsuki HQ, or why Itachi hadn't killed him or returned him yet. Motives were beyond Sasuke, because to him, things were black and white: if you do something, the motive doesn't matter. But what could Itachi possibly gain by escorting Akatsuki's most prized experiment across the continent?

Sleep, after hours of laying awake, finally graced him. His dreams were not nearly as disturbed as the night before, but there were still flashes of the days events and of horrible pain and suffering. After what seemed like just seconds, he was awakened by sunlight coming through the front window. He kept his eyes closed, slightly delirious from sleep and unsure where exactly he was.

Sasuke heard a slow, melodious breathing from somewhere nearby. An enemy...? No. He recognized this breathing pattern. He slowly opened his eyes to see Sakura, sitting across the room and staring intently at him. He rolled onto his side. "What time is it?" he asked sleepily.

"Nearly ten." came the response. Sakura was staring fixatedly at the window, as if trying to avoid him. "I... I guess you'll be going?"

Sasuke yawned and sat up. "No, not quite yet. I want to eat breakfast first, if that's ok."

"Yeah..." Sakura replied, still gazing at the window. "That's fine." Her voice sounded odd and far-away, as if she weren't the one who was speaking. Sasuke noted subconsciously how the sun played across her pink hair in such a way to make it look like she had a halo.

"Thanks." Sasuke said, standing up and walking to the small kitchen. As he would have normally, he poured some rice into a pot and brought the water to a boil.

"Is that all you eat?" Sakura asked, having followed him in. "Rice?"

Sasuke considered that for a moment before saying, "Yeah... pretty much, yeah. Not much else to eat on the road, you know."

Sakura's lower lip trembled dangerously, and she averted her gaze to the doorway into the living room when Sasuke turned to rummage in the fridge for some milk. "Milk? What's that for?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Habit I've gotten into. I pour the milk over my rice in the morning, like cereal."

"Ewww." Distracted from her sadness for just a moment, Sakura pondered that for a second. "Wouldn't it get all wet and soggy?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "I don't mind." The water came to a boil, and Sasuke made sure he watched it. Sakura again averted her gaze. Sasuke, after a few more minutes, poured the rice and water into a fine strainer and then the rice into a bowl. He sat down at the table, picked up a pair of chopsticks and, almost as an afterthought, poured in the milk. He stuck his chopsticks in and began eating. "Mmm. Really good. Where'd you get this rice, Sa-" He looked up at Sakura, expecting to see her disgusted, but instead found her crying silently. "Ku... ra?"

She gave a hearty sniff and turned away from him. "D-don't mind me, Sasuke, I... I'm just being stupid, there's n-n-nothing t-to worry about..." She sniffed again and looked at him with tear-blurred eyes. "I'm... j-just being st-st-stupid..."

"You got that right." Sasuke said, surprising her.

"What?"

"You heard me." Sasuke said, looking back down at his rice. "You're being an idiot."

Enraged by Sasuke's quick agreement, Sakura stood, walked over to him, and slapped him. Though surprised that she had gone this far, Sasuke was not surprised that she had gotten this annoyed. "How **_dare _**you!" she yelled. "I allow you into my home, I cry over the death sentence you've given yourself, and you have the gall to insult me!"

"I notice you've stopped crying." Sasuke said calmly, not looking up from his breakfast.

"You..." Sakura flushed with anger. "Get out! Now! And take that rice with you!" Sasuke didn't move. "Did you hear me? I want you OUT! NOW!"

Sasuke, saying nothing, drank the milk from the bottom of the bowl, got up, and put it in the sink. He turned back to her, and without a trace of emotion on his face, said, "Good. You've gotten over the crying."

The anger on Sakura's face melted into confusion. "What...?"

Sasuke turned and walked into the living room, where he gathered up his hitae-ate, his boots, his pack, and his oversized kunai. Sakura followed him, her anger seeping back. "What are you talking about, 'good?'"

"I don't want you to cry when I leave, or if I die." Sasuke said, still without emotion. He walked to the foyer, where he sat down and pulled on his boots.

"What?" Sakura was suddenly not angry anymore. "Sasuke, you can't..."

"Look." He stood up and stared her in the eye with the fierce gaze he normally had. "You can't waste your life mourning over me. I don't want you to spend one second crying when I leave, because crying won't fix things. And if I die..." His expression softened. "I don't want you to spend your life mourning over someone who wasn't worth it."

"Don't be stupid." Sakura said, stepping down into the foyer. "You've been-"

"-horrible to both you and Naruto." Sasuke finished, his expression hardening again. "I've never really known what you and Ino and all the other girls have seen in me. Now..." Again, he stared her in the eye. His persuasive abilities surprised her. "When I get back, if I hear that you shed even one tear over me, I'll come and give you something to cry about."

Sakura gave a little laugh, only making Sasuke look fiercer. "You think it's funny? I don't. I don't want you to mourn, got it? If I die..." Again, he looked saddened. Did he really expect to die fighting his brother? "I don't want you to cry."

Sakura felt odd. Why did this matter so much to him? "Sasuke... What are you saying?"

Sasuke was getting annoyed. She just didn't get it. "Forget it." He turned to leave.

"Wait!"

"What is it?" Sasuke snapped, without turning.

"You forgot your hitae-ate." He heard Sakura hop down and pad over to him. He heard her shirt rustle as she lifted the headband up, ready to tie it on his head. Without looking, without a word, he pushed her hands away. "Sasuke...?"

"Keep it." Sasuke said. "I'll come back, Sakura. Even if only for your sake, I'll come back. One day, I'll wear that hitae-ate again. Until then... keep that as my promise to return."

And with that, without a backward glance, he left. He never knew that as soon as he was out of sight, Sakura broke down.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: OK, OK, it's been a while (a long while) since last update. Still, here's chapter eight. I hope you enjoy!

---

Chapter 8

The chase was on, and Itachi knew it. He could feel that faint-yet-powerful chakra even from miles away. He knew that as long as he was injured, even with the Mangekyo, he was at a disadvantage. He cursed his idiocy at never taking the time to copy a healing technique with his Sharingan.

"Oh well." he muttered. The wound, if possible, was getting worse. The skin around it was turning a pale green, and it rarely stopped bleeding. But his chakra was still at its full, his one-handed swordsmanship as good as ever. He counted himself lucky that the wound was on the left side of his body, because if it had been on the right, he'd have been unable to use his katana.

Itachi's jacket brushed the open, weeping spot. Itachi gave no sign that he was hurting other than to wince- but he only did so in his eyes, which half-shut in pain. Other than that, he gave no outward proof that he had even felt it. He had trained himself like this since he had started at the Ninja Academy, so he'd never have to worry about feeling pain.

_Is that why you don't regret your butchery?_

"Shut up!" Itachi roared at nothing; several flocks of birds were frightened and took flight to escape the loud voice. "DAMN IT!" he raged, drawing his katana and easily cutting through a tree trunk.

Why was he so confused? What was wrong with him? For eight years, he had nothing to say about the slaughter. And now, that stupid, annoying, nagging voice was here, rattling through his mind whenever he strayed close to Sasuke or any other Uchiha. Never had he ever felt remorse... And yet... He still felt this annoying unhappiness.

"Damn you, brother of mine." Itachi said, sheathing his katana. He began to move again.

"Not so fast, fair Uchiha." a voice from behind him said. Itachi turned to see, standing in the trees, a man wearing a mask with strangle black markings on it. He wore deep blue robes, with lighter, striped pants. On the mask was a leaf, the sign of Konoha.

"A shinobi hunter." Itachi observed, unsurprised. "It's about time Konoha sent someone to deal with me."

"Then I shall make this quick, as you're a busy man." the hunter said, taking from his pocket several senbon, or acupuncture needles. "I hope you don't mind dying at such a young age... Only twenty-one, I hear? Such a waste of talent."

"You've no idea." Itachi said, taking his katana back out. "It was stupid of you to alert me to your presence, though. I can kill you easily now, without even needing to expend chakra."

"Is that so?" a voice from behind him said. Itachi didn't even need to turn around to recognize that he had been fooled by a Shadow Doppelganger, and the real hunter had snuck up behind him. "Please allow me to correct you, but... I believe it is you that will die without my expending any chakra."

"The sad thing is..." Itachi said. "That I did need to use a little chakra to finish this." He too, had used the Shadow Doppelganger technique to sneak up behind the hunter. "Die." He swung his katana, but the hunter used the Art of Substitution to switch with the Doppelganger. "Clever."

The hunter dove into the trees. Itachi wasn't worried; Konoha wasn't particularly renowned for its shinobi hunters, and besides, Itachi always had the Tsukiyomi and the Amaterasu. "Your games are just delaying the inevitable." Itachi said, bored.

Senbon flew from several directions. Shadow Doppelgangers obviously had been used to throw them all. Itachi expertly swung his katana and knocked them all away. "You've got to try better than-" He fell silent in mid-sentence as he was forced to duck a missile formed of senbon that were linked by chakra.

"I have many more tricks up my sleeve, traitor." the hunter spat. Suddenly, senbon poked out of the ground for a large area around Itachi. Without warning, they shot out from the ground and straight into the air.

"Child's play." Itachi said. Moving his hands lightning-fast, he formed the signs for one of the only defense arts in the Fire Style. "Fire Style: Art of the Konoha Meteor!" He was surrounded by a wall of fire that burned all the senbon. "I told you. You can't beat me."

"I will." The hunter was still hiding in the trees, keeping Itachi from using the full effects of his Sharingan. "You are a disgusting traitor, and when you are dead, your brother will be next!"

Itachi blazed at this. "You won't get so far." He used the Shadow Doppelganger technique, producing six clones.

"You think those clones will confuse me?"

"No." Itachi said. "I think they'll kill you." The Doppelgangers launched in all directions, and as Itachi formed more signs, before crying, "Art of the Kamikaze Doppelganger!" The Doppelgangers, spread out in the nearby woods, suddenly expended all their chakra and exploded, destroying most of the foliage around them.

Itachi had again used the Konoha Meteor, to defend himself from the volatile energies that blew apart the woods. When the dust cleared, the hunter was lying, though alive, about twenty feet from Itachi. Itachi walked over to him. "What did I tell you?"

"Shut up!" the hunter cried, coughing. Itachi assumed that underneath the now-cracked mask, blood was spattering from the coughs. "More will come..."

"Let them." Itachi said. With a quick flick of his wrist, he disemboweled the hunter. Bending down, he picked up the mask, cracked off the portion with the leaf, and left the hunter for dead.

Itachi walked several miles down the path before he stopped for water in the river. It was cold and refreshing, and it washed the blood from him. His wound wasn't getting any better; in fact, it had gotten at least twice as bad, and had begun to bleed freely during his battle with the hunter.

He hoped he hadn't sent the hunter to the grave thinking he had been wounded.

Itachi soon got fed up and back to where the hunter had died. The corpse was still there. Itachi tore up the hunter's clothes, wrapped the first long strip around his wound, and stored the rest in his pack. The hunter was dead; it wasn't like he'd need any clothes. Grateful for this dying gift, Itachi set off again.

The road was long and hard. Itachi could still feel that faint chakra that was his brother's, and he knew that he was being pursued. So what? he reasoned. He's never been able to beat me before, so what's going to change?

Itachi's biggest fear was that Sasuke had gained the Mangekyo. Sasuke wasn't as fast a learner or as rapid at getting stronger as Itachi was, but Itachi knew very well that Sasuke was still an above-average Uchiha. Though he had reason to believe that it was revenge driving his brother and little more, Itachi knew that Sasuke was capable of using his Sharingan to great effect.

There was one final problem that Itachi had to overcome in order to beat Sasuke. He was still unsure of whether or not the Sharingan could copy the Amaterasu or the Tsukiyomi, and the last thing he wanted to do was give his enemy his best weapon. Though, indeed, no one had lived to see either of those techniques twice (with the exception of Kakashi), and Itachi had been given no reason ro believe that Sasuke would, either.

Still... Itachi, though determined to win, knew that there were two reasons that Sasuke was alive. The first, he had convinced himself, was that he still needed to test his Mangekyo against another's. Since he had killed every other Uchiha, obviously the logical mind would leave Sasuke alive and try to convince him to kill his best friend and gain the Mangekyo. Itachi had no doubt that he would win, but the mirroring effects of the Mangekyo would be most interesting to watch pitted against each other.

The other, though Itachi only grudgingly admitted it, was so someone could bring him to justice.

And he continued to move through the forest, occasionally raging at nothing because he couldn't figure out why he was raging.

---

Sasuke, though slightly guilty, felt more angry than anything.

The time for revenge was upon him.

He had his oversized kunai, ready to tear through Itachi's flesh like butter. He had his shuriken, ready to dig into his face and abdomen and do so much damage. He had his Sharingan, the gift of his father's that had never let him down before. And yet, he was missing something...

His friends.

Sasuke didn't know why, but the return trip to Konoha had changed him. Everyone was the same, still willing to try and help him, no matter what. Even Neji, who felt even less emotion than Itachi did, had tried to help him. Kakashi, Sasuke thought, had intentionally allowed himself to be hit with the Chidori, just to prove his point. Ino, Shikamaru, and Lee had tried to stop them from fighting. Naruto had held back, so Sasuke would have a chance.

And Sakura...

_No, damn it, no!_ Sasuke berated himself. He had sworn not to think of her, because for whatever reason, whenever he did, he wanted to turn around and go back. He couldn't give up the chase now, because if he did, he might never be able to bring himself away from Konoha again. He was willing to forsake Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi and everyone else to do this.

Sasuke passed through a small village about a day after he left. It had no ninja in it, so people of all ages showed up at the restaurant he stopped to eat at to goggle at him. He didn't make eye contact with any of them, and he wasn't sure how they knew he was a ninja (with a pang, he remembered his hitae-ate, alone and scared back at Sakura's), but he knew they were starting to annoy him. By the time he finished his meal and paid for it, he was thoroughly fed up.

"Leave me alone." he called back at them as he walked down the main road. They kept following him. He stopped in a small food shop and picked up a few more packages of rice, so he'd have enough to eat for several weeks. They kept following him. He stopped at the blacksmith's to have him sharpen the oversized kunai. They kept following him.

As Sasuke reached the edge of town, he felt an urge to launch a volley of kunai into the crowd. Instead, he turned, formed a few simple signs which came naturally to him, and performed the Great Fireball Technique. "If you keep following me," he warned them, "I will kill all of you. I am too busy to have a bunch of weakling townspeople follow me everywhere. I have things to do and people to kill, and I hope none of you want to be among them."

That kept the townspeople away from him for a good long time.

Days past, and Sasuke kept walking, immersing himself in memories. He could sense a chakra, far on the edge of his senses, that he knew was Itachi. As he walked, he thought of a lot of things, some memories of his parents, some of his friends, and some... of his brother.

_"Mommy, why do the stars twinkle?"_

_Sasuke was lying out on the roof of the Uchiha house with his mother, Mikoto, staring at the sky. He was maybe four, but unlike Itachi, who had by this age mastered the Great Fireball, he showed little promise of being a prodigy. Instead, his parents took the time to raise him like a normal child._

_"You know what, Sasuke?" his mother said, smiling, "I don't know."_

_Sasuke was silent for a moment, considering this. "So you don't know everything?"_

_Mikoto laughed. "No, Sasuke, of course not. No one does."_

_Sasuke sat on the ground in a small puddle of blood not long afterward, poking at a decent-sized wound on his arm. The other children from his neighborhood were crying or screaming. Sasuke was completely silent, and wasn't shedding a tear._

_A small, blond child with odd, whisker-like marks on his cheeks crouched down by Sasuke. "Doesn't that hurt? Why aren't you crying?"_

_"Of course it hurts, stupid." Sasuke said, unwittingly starting a tradition that would last eleven years._

_"Don't call me stupid." Naruto replied. "You just don't like me because no one else does!"_

_"No, I don't like you because you're stupid." Sasuke smirked as Naruto flushed red, ready to strike back. At that moment, Sasuke's father, Fugaku, happened by, saw his son bleeding in the street, and rushed him home._

_"He's so pretty..."_

_"I know, and he's so dark and mysterious, too..."_

_"Isn't he?"_

_The gaggle of girls shushed each other as Sasuke happened by. He stared at them, confused, as they giggled and waved. He shrugged and took his seat in the classroom. He wasn't in the Academy yet, though he would be soon. Already, the girls were flocking around him, and nothing he would do could stop them. He didn't understand why they liked him; it wasn't like he gave them a reason._

_He sighed, took his seat, and opened his math book, as directed by his teacher._

_Sasuke sat in the Sandaime Hokage's office, shaking. People were bustling in and out, all of them visibly shaken by the day's events. The Hokage himself, however, sat behind his desk, staring at Sasuke._

"_Are you all right, little one?" he asked after some time. And, after a pause, "Why aren't you crying?"_

"_I..." Sasuke shuddered. He clenched his fists and set his jaw to keep them from trembling. "I'm fine, Hokage-sama. And... I never cry. I just don't."_

"_No one would blame you for it, Sasuke." Sandaime said kindly. "Adults are not like your schoolmates, we won't-"_

"_I don't cry." Sasuke repeated fiercely. After a moment, he reconsidered. "Well, I did when... when I saw he..."_

"_Hokage-sama!" Someone burst into the room, yelling. "We checked Uzumaki, but there's no blood. He couldn't have done it."_

"_Naruto didn't do it!" Sasuke said, standing up and staring up at the two men. "It was Itachi! He killed my parents! And if anyone kills him before me, I'll kill them!"_

Sasuke's fists clenched reflexively as he thought of the aftermath of the slaughter. Sandaime Hokage and his aide had both been surprised by the news that it was not Naruto that had killed the Uchiha clan, and they had roared in outrage when Sasuke alleged that it was his older brother. Seven year olds, however, did not make faceless allegations; it soon became clear that it could have been no one but Itachi.

Sasuke's memories after that point, for the most part, were painful and lonely. He was forced to live in the Uchiha house all alone, and although he was solely focused on revenge, he wanted people to want to like him for more than his good looks. Constantly, the girls followed him everywhere, completely unaware of what had happened, badgering him to come to their houses with them.

He never responded.

After all these years of thinking, Sasuke figured that since his advances as a ninja were so fast, he could have spared time and made friends. None of that mattered, though, because no one but the Rookie Nine, Gai's cell, and Kakashi really cared about him now that he had turned traitor.

Sasuke was shaken from his thoughts by a kunai that blazed by his ear. "Damn it, what now?" he muttered, taking out his oversized kunai and looking for the source of the enemy strike. Another kunai flew, giving away the enemy's position in the trees. Sasuke let loose with a group of shuriken, then leapt back in anticipation of the return strike.

It came from behind him. Sasuke heard it and twisted around in time for a kunai to just graze it side, tearing a bit of his shirt and drawing only a small amount of blood. Sasuke landed, threw more shuriken, and dodged left.

Again, the return attack came from behind him. "Stupid Doppelgangers." Sasuke muttered. This time, he spun around, but immediately turned again, so he was facing the direction of his last counter. Nothing. "What...?" he wondered aloud, before he noticed a kunai flying at him from the right. He ducked it.

"One choice." Sasuke said, then used the Great Fireball on the woods where the last attack came from. The trees lit up instantly, burning almost everything away. And then...

Another attack, this time from the opposite side of the road. Sasuke was intensely confused. After this much time, there would have been such a drain on the attacker's chakra that the Doppelgangers would have disappeared. But there was no other way that the attacker could attack from multiple angles at once.

Sasuke kept being attacked, trying to anticipate where the next strike would come from, but every time, if came from a different area. There was no pattern of attack for whoever this was, and as such, Sasuke couldn't formulate a guess. He swore in rage after three more kunai grazed him, opening shallow cuts in his skin. The attacker was _toying with him._ That knowledge was too much to bear.

"Show your face!" Sasuke roared, his hands flying through signs as he spoke. "Come out and fight! If you're not going to, I'll just have to bring the fight-" He muttered, "Art of the Solid Sound," before screaming, "TO YOU!"

The shockwave of sound spread in all directions cutting through trees and smashing rocks. There was no way the attacker would be able to avoid it. Among the sound of falling trees, there was a cry of pain. Sasuke stayed where he was, knowing he'd be able to see his assailant over the felled trees.

It was an otonin. He stood there, holding his bleeding left arm and glaring at Sasuke as if he had the plague. "You little brat!" he yelled, gesticulating wildly. "How dare you ignore Orochimaru-sama's orders! You will pay for your treason with your life!"

"Now that I can see you, you don't stand a chance." Sasuke said, activating his Sharingan and picking up his kunai. "How'd you do it? That must have been some Doppelganger to be able to last that long and be able to hold and throw kunai without draining your chakra to the point of collapse."

The otonin gave a sick smile. "It wasn't a Doppelganger. I'll show you..." He disappeared.

"What...?" Sasuke murmured in surprise, only to feel a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He spun around and swung his kunai at the same time, catching the otonin in the stomach. Since it was so large and despite the fact that Sasuke had just had it sharpened, his kunai was only really sharp near the point. The kunai connected and sent the otonin flying towards the tree line, where he landed bodily. "Speed." Sasuke said, as he enemy landed.

"That's right!" the otonin said, giving a bloody cough. He stood up again, and his good hand went back to his wounded arm. "I'm so fast, your Sharingan could hardly pick me up! Now what, coward? You won't be able to hit me until I hit you, and by the time that happens, your throat will be slit!"

"Not quite." Sasuke said, forming signs. "Snake Style: Art of the Viper's Fang." He dropped his kunai and held up his right hand. The first two fingers had become sharpened, and were of a green tint. Sasuke stuck them up as if signifying the number two, but when he arched them, the otonin knew he meant business. "This is one of Orochimaru-sensei's. It's probably one of his best close-combat techniques..." Sasuke charged the otonin.

"Idiot! Baka!" the otonin roared in triumph, seemingly disappearing again. But Sasuke's Sharingan had already done its job- he knew that the otonin would attack from his left side, so as soon as the otonin vanished, he spun 90 degrees and swiped with his two fingers.

They struck the otonin on either side of his good arm's elbow joint, pierced the skin, and injected their payload. The otonin gasped and fell, hitting the ground with a sickening thud and writhing in pain. The wounds turned a deep green, which spread up his arm along the arteries and veins. They reached up to his face, making him look like a mad tattoo artist.

Sasuke gave no impression that he felt anything about having won. He walked over to his kunai and picked it up before turning to the otonin and saying, "Too bad. That's a fatal technique, as soon as it strikes. It pumps a good bit of my chakra into your blood vessels, where it takes hold. Before you know it, I'll be able to implode every blood vessel in your body." He smiled darkly. "It's like having 100,000 strokes at once."

The otonin stared up at him in fear as all of his blood vessels were outlined in green. As soon as the chakra made a complete circuit, Sasuke held out his left hand. "Bye." he said, closing his fist.

The otonin's every orifice suddenly oozed blood: his eyes, his ears, his nose and mouth, from under his fingernails; his scalp seemed to bleed off, as the shallow vessels there opened and the blood found space between the skin cells. His tongue swelled and burst, huge bruises on either side of his neck formed, and without a sound, he died.

Sasuke sighed as he turned and walked away. He had hoped to avoid any killing until he found Itachi, but Orochimaru had given him no choice. "The next time Orochimaru tries to have me killed..." Sasuke said bitterly, "He'd better send someone much more powerful than that."


End file.
